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honey-lemonz · 10 months

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Kokushibou and the archer part. 4

“An upper rank is dead.”

Kokushibou, as loyal as ever, stood before Muzan with the rest of the twelve kizuki. Upper rank six were killed in the red-light district due to the demon slayer with the hanafuda earrings and a hashira of what Muzan retorted “of considerable weakness”, either way now times were against many of the upper ranks. This was the first time in centuries an upper rank of the twelve kizuki were killed. As Muzan gave orders to Gyoko and Hantengu about their attack set on the swordsmith village, leaving upper rank one’s mind wandered elsewhere. A familiar archer’s eyes and hands made his spine shiver. For what purpose of the shiver? Kokushibou could not tell or know fully.

“Kokushibou? Kokushibou!” Kokushibou quickly cut out of his personal fantasy and cut his 3 sets of eyes at his fellow upper ranks. What could the scum around him want now? He said nothing and only looked at upper rank two, Douma. His rainbow-colored eyes held a mysteriousness within them, meaning some sort of sadistic idea was going to burn away somewhere. Kokushibou could scowl at the idea of whatever this fool could be entertained by. Douma began to speak, “Well, since you heard Lord Muzan speak on the recent killing of Daki and Gyutaro which is so sad.” The demon pretended to shed tears of sadness and went on about his poor underlings and what he considered siblings being ruthlessly killed considering their past which Kokushibou cut out and ignored for he didn’t care.

“Your point?” The samurai spoke sternly, he didn’t care what this clown had to say since he disrupted his mind wandering and being alone with his thoughts. Douma quickly wiped away his “tears” which there weren’t any. He can’t cry from what Kokushibou could clearly see. “Oh, well Nakime recalled that the archer demon fella you know was seen within the discards of the red-light district. Lord Muzan didn’t talk about it or anything. So, since you know this demon perhaps, we could recruit him to fill in for Gyutaro? Whittaya think?” Douma leaned too close into the samurai’s space for his liking but the words he spoke next would anger him farther. “Well, I would love to give him a share of my blood. The look of him drinking it and being all inside him, watching him grow strong from my blood makes me want to melt huh? Then we would be bonded forever, ugh~ just imagine!” Douma’s words even made Akaza’s skin crawl. Upper rank three despite punching and wanting to kill his superiors sensed something amiss.

The surrounding air around Kokushibou grew darker. The surreal feeling of bloodlust embodied the air. The older demon turned his head towards upper rank two slowly. His words cut deeper than his sword could now. If he wanted to, he could kill Douma without a care, but the hierarchy and whatnot. “The archer is not of your concern and never will be.” Within a flash, the eldest upper rank was gone. While Douma and the other two demons took a moment to react, half of Douma’s head was cut off in a simple slash. Nakime quickly with a strum of her biwa sent the other two away at once away from the infinity palace. Kokushibou found himself at the remains of the red-light district. The moon was high into the night sky. Barely even midnight, the demon used his sets of eyes to scan the surroundings for any truth in Douma’s words. Even if what he said was correct why should the samurai be angered. The archer was an independent demon who despised the twelve kizuki for personal reasons not even Kokushibou could figure out. But in what world would he take Douma’s blood, why when he is the strongest? His blood wouldn’t be tainted by the humans Douma devours on a regular basis.

Kokushibou bit down on his lip so tightly it bled, scarlet red drips from his mouth. Staining his pale and cold skin. The demon felt centuries worth of anger and rage thrash in his entire being. ‘The night is still young, if the archer were here, he’d be cornered. There would be no point of him being here.’ Kokushibou reasoned within himself, if he was here then an attack would be hurling towards him. Kokushibou disappeared from the rubble of the red-light. He found himself on the outskirts of the city near an open patch of field. His senses were guiding him this way. His last bout with the archer made his smell and aura very hard to miss. The demon just as Kokushibou had calculated was slinked over in a tree. His body was cast within a shadow making it hard for him to be seen. But his eyes shined evidently in the moonlight, as a lion with his prey his eyes were aligned straight with Kokushibou’s first pair of eyes. The night was silent in the small field, the humans within the red-light were too far away to hear or see the stand off about to take place.

The archer demon, otherwise referred to as Yasumebe [Name] didn’t move towards Kokushibou. Their last bout was a little over a hundred years ago and left some nasty remarks and memories. Whether it was the pride Kokushibou held or the little shame within his mind he kept from being human that he eternally blocked out those memories completely. But that doesn’t mean his body doesn’t remember, yes, his mind lacked the connotation Yasumebe’s stare had on him, but his body did. His body secretly craved the attention and feeling, the absolute abuse the archer put through. Not just the thrill of an exciting battle but rather the tender and more explicit side of his body craved. The touch of a thousand swords could never beat the long engulfing feeling of pure sexual arousal. Kokushibou, no matter how much meditation or pure and thorough training could make his body go back the same way as before. Times of his own privacy the core of his abdominal begged for the tightly wound coil to snap within him, letting him experience the bliss his body needed once more.

But here he stood, not moving but only observing the archer, neither spoke. An exchange of words would only lead to a fight, but it seemed neither of them wanted to. The archer then finally spoke, “You have nothing to acknowledge do you? Upper rank? Nothing at all?” He looked enthused, almost joyful if it wasn’t for the smirk spreading across his face. [Name’s] large kasa hat covered most of the upper half of his face but the lower half smirked greatly. His lips curved into an almost joyfully cruel smile. He asked the samurai demon once more. “So, your memory fails you no Upper rank? You have come all this way for a reason, not to eat and devour the fools among the red-light district remains, is it?”. The demon moved off the high branch of the tree he sat upon and jumped down to the empty field across from Kokushibou. Kokushibou stayed in his position but kept his eyes on [Name], what could he be speaking of? What acknowledgement is he speaking of?

“You hunted me down Upper rank, what comes about then? Why have you cornered me here? Your mind seems at halt, but your body still has a memory, doesn’t it?” The archer crossed his arms against his chest, he looked just as well-fit and neat as he did before. His appearance was still the same. The shape of a phoenix demon slayer mark curved along his jaw and down his neck and towards his chest. Before he met Yasumebe, Kokushibou had no idea the breathing styles worked for other weapons. However, Kokushibou now could see the archer didn’t have his arrows nor his bow. Therefore, a fight would be useless, as if disappointment was evident the archer summoned an arrow with his blood demon art and twirled it between his fingers playfully. “Ah, you didn’t come here for just a fight, did you? Ask what brought you here Upper rank. My patience is thinning.” The archer crouched down into a squatting position and pointed the arrow directly at where Kokushibou’s heart would be. Kokushibou stifled, his tone wasn’t serious or playful, he was dead serious.

“Another Upper rank demon of the twelve kizuki has spoken to you. Yes, or no?” Kokushibou started “Straightforward as ever aren’t your Upper rank? But to humor your troubling worries no, I have not spoken or seen another upper ranking demon of the twelve demon moons at all, other than the fool I am speaking to now.” Kokushibou hissed and began to correct the archer.

“Watch your tongue, Yasumebe. Know and acknowledge your place within this moment. I have no need for your arrogance and ignorance.” This made the archer lean his head up completely, now his attention has been captured completely.

“Oi, oi, Upper rank. I acknowledge your power here and I acknowledge your weakness. Your memory is failing you. Perhaps I should remind you within the time we have… However, I just have a question to start with then.” The demon stood slowly and began to approach Kokushibou, he slowly walked toward the samurai demon. His eyes locked with the second pair of eyes on Kokushibou. His voice unwavering but deadly calm. His twisted and cruel smirk lined his lips, the moonlight cast a shadow over his face again due to the kasa.

“Why does it matter if another upper rank came and spoke to me? Did your body feel betrayed at the idea of another letting me use them for entertainment? Or did you come here to cure your bodily amnesia?” the demon asked. He looked enthused at what answer could come about Kokushibou. “I care not of what they think of me now. But answer upper rank, my patience is getting close to snapping. I’m being as nice to give you a chance.” Kokushibou stifled but he recomposed himself. “If another weaker demon were to impose on- “

“Impose on what Upper rank?” The archer was now a foot away from him, the arrow now pointed downward towards Kokushibou’s feet. “What would another weaker demon impose on? Tell me, answer my dying question?” The archer moved forward again, now he was inches away. Kokushibou felt his heart rate speed up, was this fear? No, he wasn’t afraid. He was afraid at the feeling of death being inflicted on him but now he felt his abdomen tighten. He took a step back.

“Ah, I see. Your body does remember, your mind is keeping it from enjoying it then. I’ll adjust and fix that for the both of us then.” The archer within a snap of his fingers quickly let the arrow stab into Kokushibou’s foot. The samurai was quick enough to dodge the first arrow but when the second came after he wasn’t as prepared. His senses were off, his mind was hazy, and his body felt warm. Like the sun was beating against his skin, his pairs of eyes closed slowly. The lowest pair of eyes were open when the archer was sitting in front of him. The scenery was changing, were they still in the field? Where was he? When did he-?

“Such a pain, if you would have been a better brat then maybe this would have been easier. The arrow point wisteria must be working…You’re still semi-awake.” Kokushibou fought to open all his eyes, his vision was unfocused, and his limbs felt numb. His eyes finally focused and saw he was in a dark room. The only light-source was the small lamp in the corners of the room. He felt a gnawing sense of pain course throughout his body. His body was against the patted bedding on the floor. A thin mat with blankets underneath his body, the strong smell of iron engulfed his nose. His sensory functions were heavily delayed and altered. The pain overtook everything.

Kokushibou tried his best to angle himself to see what was causing the amount of pain he was experiencing. Arrows dripping in wisteria poison and blood other than his own. The arrows were embedded within his limbs and joints. His body was on fire, tingles spread against his skin, he slowly angled himself back on the mat. His stomach and front of his body were pushed against the bedding and floor. Only leaving his backside facing upward. He was stuck. The demon heard what could be an airy chuckle, Kokushibou turned his head to face the direction of where the noise came from. Within the darkness [eye color] eyes shined and beamed back at him. Staring at him pitifully with no care or remorse. The archer was slumped in a chair near the only lamp within the room in the corner. He rested his head in his palm, his kasa hat was discarded beside the chair. His long [hair color] hair was pushed back away from his eyes and face. The beauty of his face was like a work of art, no matter how much hatred and anger Kokushibou felt in his body, the pleasure and pure anticipation he felt between his legs subdued that hatred.

“Had your fill? Or do you want to continue playing dumb and we can get this over with?” Yasumebe asked, his voice dripped in disgust and pure arousal. The look of lust and desire he basked in was addicting. Kokushibou’s mind was melting as he knew it, like his body was setting up for something it was made to do over a thousand times. He opened his mouth to speak but [Name] came and stopped him. He lowered himself to the floor to be at Kokushibou’s forced level. “Shh, upper rank, I promised you to help you regain your memory as my purposeful bitch in heat, didn’t I? I’ll fill you up so many times you can regain all your memories and never suffer from this awful case of amnesia.”

The archer grasped his jaw and moved his thumb into Kokushibou’s mouth gently. Naturally by muscle memory, rather than bite Kokushibou started to suckle and tease with his tongue on [Name’s] finger. The archer’s smirk grew widely, but he removed his finger and began removing the fabric belt keeping his hakama pants tied to his waist. Kokushibou’s mouth salivated and opened on instinct at the sight of Yasumebe’s cock, the archer was surprised he did not even need to speak to the upper rank.

Mouth ajar and tongue out Kokushibou’s mouth awaited in anticipation for [Name’s] cock to stuff it full and for his throat to abused fully. Yasumebe found humor in the way an Upper rank demon as powerful and as fearful as Kokushibou, was begging like a bitch in heat for his throat to be fucked by another demon who bested him in any way possible. He slowly entered his cock into Kokushibou’s mouth, the upper rank wrapped his tongue like a snake around the thick and large dick within his mouth. Once fully pushed all the way to the hilt, [Names’] pubic hair tickling his lower eyes and filling all his senses at once along with the pain of the poison coursing through his body, Kokushibou moaned deeply at the feeling. His throat was pushed so wide, his lungs couldn’t get enough hair in and out, the gagging sound from the back of his throat where the tip of the archer’s cock was made his throat tighten and quiver. His upper set of eyes closed out of pure bliss, the thrumming ace of pain and his own cock springing to life under his weight brought his haze-like state into pure fantasy. Was this what his mind wanted to forget so badly? His body felt so at peace being abused and used like a proper sex slave.

His only purpose was to fuck and swallow how much cum [Name] could dump into him. The archer closed his eyes out the feeling if such a warm, tight pussy-like throat. “That’s its upper rank… use your throat to milk it all out… been pent up for eons for your cunt. I’m going to stuff your throat so good…” Yasumebe was mumbling while slowly rocking his hips into Kokushibou’s throat. Kokushibou’s jaw went slack, as much as the poison and the uncomfortable position was, he slowly with as much strength as he could have, he rutted his thighs against the bedding to get some friction against his cock. The slow rocking then turned into harsh and fast ruts against Kokushibou’s throat. He gagged and tried breathing though his nose, even concentration of breath was useless with thew archer demons’ erotic pace and sounds of pleasure. Groans and curses under his breath lit a fire in Kokushibou’s soul. His tongue moved quickly while eagerly tightening his throat and focusing on the tip of Yasumebe’s cock. Sucking in his cheeks to create more force and flattening his tongue to lick up and taste up off the thick and delicious precum coming out of the tip.

“Enjoying yourself Upper Rank? Good we are only getting started…”

TO BE CONTINUED-

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mothask · 1 year

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"back in the spring I met a goddess, she was shining and her wings were like rainbows, she was huge. She saw me and after looking shocked for a while smiled and said hello, before someone else came along and i took the moment to run."

Clement explained as his brothers stared at him half way through their meals.

"Clem what are you talking about?"

His brother fiore asked.

"Well you guys asked how I was the only pilot that day to survive the ambush, simple I saw a goddess earlier that day and she said hi."

Clement said before sighing and leaning back staring at the sky.

"I'm telling you, it was fate."

He said wistfully as his brother flicked a seed at his head.

"Sure clemental."

He said laughing as clement punched him in the arm.

Meanwhile on the other side of the realms in her home on a snowy day, Maria pouted as her friend skarrah teased her.

"Dude you did not."

"I told you I saw a fairy!"

Skarrah plopped down on a chair.

"And he had flight gear."

"And he had flight gear! What fairy needs an oxygen mask skarrah!"

She exclaimed before sighing and flopping over on her side before rolling over and staring at the ceiling.

"I'm telling you skarrah it wasn't just a dream, or a bug, or my imagination, it was fate."

She said as she gazed out into space. Skarrah's eyebrows lifted as her gaze that was fixed on Maria soon shifted to the entrance to the kitchen next to the couch.

"Yeah and I think burning your casserole every time is fate too."

She said smiling as Maria jerked up.

"What?!"

Maria screeched before jumping up and rushing into the kitchen as smoked filled the air as well as skarrah's laughter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

These are my ocs Clement and Maria 😖✨️ they're both a couple of dorks for eachother

Maria went with skarrah to do a photo shoot at a botanical garden and just so happened to catch clement who was waiting for his falcon to drink some water. And that's how I met your mother ✨️

#clone oc #clone troopers #sw tcw #Tcw #tcw au #clone wars au #star wars au #sw au #moth au #star wars tcw #clone trooper oc #moth ask #giant tiny #g/t art #giant/tiny #giant tiny fluff #fairy aesthetic #clone moth au #moth clone au

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writemywaytoyourheart · 3 years

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Aim For The Heart | Chapter 1: At First Sight

Pairing: hitman!jk x female reader

Genre: E2L, romance, angst, drama

WC: 4.5k

Warnings for this chapter: alcohol consumption, language, stalking kind of? I think that's all lol. Pls let me know if there is anything else I should put.

tag list; @teresaisla @hopekookies @moonchild1 @barbellastyles98 @ggukkieland @mwitsmejk @yukiehyukie

summary; Jeon Jungkook is an infamous hitman, known for his inability to fail at whatever job is thrown his way. At least, up until now. Y/n, a kind-hearted and full of life teacher, is his newest target. Jeon isn't sure who would put a hit on this seemingly innocent girl, but fortunately, that isn't his problem. All he has to do is pull the trigger.

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A bright smile graces your features as you tuck the little star-shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches into a tiny container, just barely getting two of them to fit as you squish them down a tad bit in order to get the lid clipped on.

Then you grab a little tangerine and a cheese stick to drop into your lunch bag along with the sandwiches, counting the number of items aloud to yourself as they make themselves at home and then you zip it all up.

"Th-There we go!" You lift your lunch for the day in triumph.

Your phone startles you when it starts to ring, then you grapple in your purse to find it. You pull it out and answer right before the last ring.

"Hello?"

"Hey, girl! Are you ready to go? I'm downstairs." The voice of your best friend comes through the phone and you look at the clock on your microwave. You stare at the little black screen, confused as to why the time isn't showing up before remembering that you were never able to figure out how to display the clock when you bought the microwave three years ago. So, you hold your phone out to look at the time.

6:32

"Oh geez! I didn't r-realize the time. I'll be d-down in a minute, k?" You say, earning a lighthearted laugh from the girl on the other end.

"Take your time, hun. I'm not in any rush."

You thank her quickly and hang up, then you run to your room to grab your favorite pink cardigan and throw it on over your white shirt. As you're hurrying out and grabbing your lunch, you stumble and knock your knee into an open lower cabinet that you had forgotten to close the previous night after pulling a pan from it to make dinner.

"Ouch!" You hiss in pain and rub the sore spot, although it does nothing to ease the ache. Then you grab your purse and run outside, almost forgetting to lock the door. But you remember just in time and clumsily lock it before rushing down the stairs leading to the parking lot of your apartment complex.

Your best friend, Mina, is laughing. You can see her through the windshield as she waves to you. Lifting a hand to wave back, you don't realize in time that your arms are full. You drop your lunchbox and have to crouch to get it again, only taking up even more of your time.

But Mina finds it hilarious and tells you so as soon as you slide into the car and fumble with your seatbelt to get it buckled.

"Honestly, ___. I can't believe you're still single. If I wasn't straight as a board, I'd be head over heels for you and all your shenanigans." She states in a matter-of-fact tone as she pulls out of the parking spot.

A blush creeps up your neck and you try to laugh it off, "D-Don't be silly." You whisper, turning your gaze outside to look at the fluffy white clouds decorating the sky beautifully. You smile and lean your forehead against the glass as you imagine lying on a soft cloud, just drifting in the air.

"If you c-could go anywhere at all, where would y-you go?" You ask Mina suddenly, turning to her. Her eyes are focused on the road but she bites her lip in thought at your question. "Mm, probably Italy. What about you?" She's used to your sudden questions and ramblings, so she smiles when you start to go off.

"I'd wanna go up in the c-clouds. I wanna sit on one and maybe even see a r-rainbow up close! I wonder if I could slide down the rainbow..." Your brows furrow in deep thought. "Or would I f-fall?" You turn to her again and she glances over to see your signature puppy dog eyes that you use when you are either confused, upset, or want something.

Mina turns back to the road, a tiny ache in her heart that she hides with a bright smile, "Girl, you would ride that rainbow straight down into a pot of gold!"

"Really?" Your eyes widen and you feel your heart lift at the image.

She nods and you giggle happily, "You can come w-with me, Mina." You say confidently, your gaze turning back to the sky. "We can sleep in the clouds and slide down rainbows for the rest of f-forever."

"Sounds like a deal."

By the time Mina pulls up to the school, you've discussed everything you'd do up in the clouds and what you'd eat when you're hungry (stardust, you've decided, is the best meal anyone could eat.)

You unbuckle and gather your things. Then you remember something and turn back to Mina, "Oh yeah. W-When are you leaving on your business trip?" You ask a tinge of sadness in your voice.

"This weekend," Mina says solemnly. "I'm sorry I won't be able to drive you for a while. I'll be gone for a month this time."

That makes your heart sting but you manage a small smile, "D-Don't worry about me. I can walk! I'm gonna m-miss you though."

"I'll miss you too, buttercup. We'll hang out this Friday night before I leave the next day. How about that?" Mina asks kindly.

You nod enthusiastically and she smiles, "Ok, get your butt in there before you're late! The bell rings in half an hour and you can't be late on a Monday." She urges you and you nod, hopping out of the car and thanking her again for the ride, reassuring her that you'll walk home from work today.

You blow her a kiss and she laughs as you turn and hurry into the school.

You're all set up only a few minutes before the kids are supposed to arrive, so you go onto Pinterest and look through your fairytale boards, feeling a little spark of joy in your chest.

A couple of minutes later, the kids start streaming through the door, greeting you with the same amount of enthusiasm as you greet them. Your kiddos love you so much that all the other teachers are jealous and they let you know it every day. Of course, you have the sweetest kindergarteners and they're always the best for you.

"Hello, Teacher! Good morning Miss ___! Teacher, look at my new haircut!"

"Hi, Jina! Hello M-Minhhyuk! Kun, your new haircut l-looks so good!" All the kids have bright smiles on their faces by the time they've settled in their seats.

You always start the day off by getting everyone to stand and do a few stretches, then you sing the nursery rhymes you learned yesterday and start learning a new one. You honestly have as much fun as the kids during the school day.

"Ok, l-little ducklings, have a seat!" You get their attention and they immediately oblige. Next, is the alphabet that you guys have been working on since the beginning of the year. Every little one sings it perfectly all the way through and you give them a round of applause and they each get a little punch in their reward cards.

The rest of the day goes by smoothly, with only one temper tantrum thrown and that was resolved quickly.

It's nearing the end of the school day and the kids are all playing during their free time. You're sitting with Ae-Cha, a small and fairly quiet girl, playing with colorful blocks; the both of you competing to see who can build the highest tower. You've learned that she responds well to playing games when there isn't too much talking involved.

You're constantly glancing around the room to make sure everyone is safe and playing nicely and you're always pleased. They've all improved so much since the beginning of school back in September. It's June now and they've all learned their alphabet and how to play nicely with their new friends, along with so many other things. They've really made you so proud this year. You can even hear them reciting the alphabet and nursery rhymes to each other as they play.

Your heart warms at the sound of tiny voices filling the room as they sing. Then you glance at the clock and realize the bell will be ringing in a few minutes. So, you declare Ae-Cha the winner with her foot-high tower of blocks and she beams proudly. Then, you get up and clap three times, "One, two, th-three! Eyes on me!" You singsong, then smile when the kids immediately respond by clapping twice and shouting "One, two! Eyes on you!"

"G-Great attention today, everyone! Alright, the bell will ring soon. Who can tell me w-what that means? What are we doing n-now?" A few little hands go up and you point to the little boy that raised his first, "Yes, Joon Woo?"

"We...Uhm...time to clean up toys...Uhm..." You smile to encourage him and he finishes cutely, "Time uh, to clean up our toys and pack bags."

"Yes! Thank you, Joon Woo. It is t-time for us to clean up and make sure our bags are packed up and ready for h-home!"

The kids start to pick up their toys as you put on the cleaning song that you play every day for them. You all sing along until the room is all tidied and their bags are packed with their homework papers.

You always give them little mazes to do for homework to get their little brains to learn to concentrate, along with instructions on what to draw to show the class the next day. Today, their homework is an extremely easy maze, a coloring page with the alphabet and instructions to draw themselves doing their favorite activity. The kids always love drawing pictures and sharing them with the class and it's a good ice breaker for the shy ones at the beginning of the day.

You always have less and easier homework for the kids on Mondays and Fridays, it just seems fair to you that way. You also feel like it's good for kids to express themselves and be able to share what they like and dislike. You've found drawing helps with communication and creativity for the kids in your class.

The sound of the bell ringing makes a few of you jump, then you hurry to the door. "Alright, ducklings! T-Time to line up!" A few of the kids make quacking sounds as they line up, giggling and talking to their friends.

You smile and open up the door, holding it as the kids walk out in a straight line, some of them still quacking like little ducks.

You lead the kids to the front of the school and make sure they get into the correct line for the bus if they take it. You wave goodbye to them as the kids that take the bus climb on and they run to a window to wave back to you.

The rest of the kids that are left are soon picked up by their parents or siblings. You wave to Ae-Cha, the last student to be picked up. She smiles shyly and waves back before hurrying after her big sister.

After that, you go back to your classroom and finish a few things before packing up to go home. As you're leaving your classroom, you run into one of the other teachers coming from his own room.

"Oh, h-hello Mr. B-Baek!" You bow, missing the ugly sneer on his face as you smile brightly at him. He pushes his glasses further up his nose as he scrutinizes you with his beady little eyes. "You don't belong here, Miss ___." He snaps.

You look at him in confusion, "I-I'm sorry, I don't understand."

"I've waited the entire school year to say this to you. But now that we are nearing the end, I think you should know that you have no business being a teacher at this school. You ought to make the right decision to discontinue your work here." Mr. Baek watches your face fall with a sick sense of satisfaction.

"B-But, why?" You ask, still not understanding.

"First of all, you're inexperienced. You just got out of college last year, am I right?"

You nod uncertainly.

"You're still a child. Why should a twenty-two-year-old girl come marching in here and take a spot that should have been given to someone with more experience? And especially someone like you." He glares at you before turning on his heel and walking away briskly.

Someone like me? What does he mean by that?

You watch after him, feeling a tiny pinch in your chest. You aren't sure what he means, but whatever he's talking about, it sounds like he believes you shouldn't have become a teacher at all. At this school or another. You'll have to ask Mina later because you really have no idea where his rant came from.

Is there something wrong with you becoming a teacher?

You shake your head and laugh it off, "He's probably just had a bad day." You tell yourself as you make your way out of the school.

As you walk home, you sing quietly along with the song in your headphones, a little skip to your step.

You never notice the dark figure across the street, his eyes trained on your every move.

One day earlier...

Jungkook groans as he tosses and turns in bed, searching for his phone to turn the alarm off. He finally finds it and hits dismiss, tossing the phone back down and rubbing his eyes with a tired yawn.

After another minute he sits up and looks out the window, frowning at the sun seeping in and pooling across his floor in a golden river. He stares at a small bird that lands on his windowsill until it flies away.

Jungkook yawns again and reaches up to rub his eyes for the second time. After a few minutes, he's finally able to drag himself out of bed and into the shower. He almost falls asleep again in there, but he manages to make it out after half an hour.

With a towel wrapped around his waist, he makes his way to the kitchen and grabs a bottle of soju that's sitting on his tiny dining table to take a small swig from, finishing off what he'd left last night after his third bottle right before he passed out in bed.

He sighs and grabs a bagel, searching for the cream cheese he swears he saw in his fridge last night. A small smile appears on his lips when he finds it. He snatches it and makes sloppy work of spreading it on his bagel before tossing the leftover trash onto his counter and plopping onto the couch, snarfing down the first half of his bagel in thirty seconds.

Jungkook sighs through his nose as he tiredly chews his breakfast, then he glances down and sees the file he'd left open on his coffee table last night. He swallows the bite he has in his mouth and leans forward to read over it.

Y/L/N Y/N...

Why is that name so familiar?

He shakes his head and flips the file closed, then he leans back on the couch, wanting to spend his Sunday relaxing before he has to get to work on this case. He isn't going to think about it again until tonight.

Jungkook settles down and lays his head on the back of the couch, closing his eyes and breathing deeply.

He won't think about it.

Jungkook lays there for a minute, then he opens his eyes and lifts his head, glaring at the closed file on the little table.

He grunts in annoyance and drops the other half of his bagel onto the table, grabbing the file angrily and sitting back again. He opens it and starts to reread everything he's read many times since Friday. There's just something that has felt off since he met with Mr. Ling, but he can't put his finger on what it is.

Jungkook squints at the name he's read a thousand times.

Y/L/N...Y/N...

"Ugh." He rolls his eyes, frustrated at not being able to remember where he's heard that name before. Then he looks at the occupation.

Teacher at Sunshine Kindergarten.

His brows furrow again, much like they have each time he's read this. He's never had a hit on a teacher before, let alone a Kindergarten teacher. That's such an odd target...

Most of his targets in the past have been sleazy business owners, rapists, leaders of gangs that have terrorized neighborhoods for years, even other hitmen. He's never had a problem with those jobs, but there's something about this one that's telling him to be careful.

Maybe it's because he knows nothing about his client, except for the large sum of money he must have due to the pay he's been promised. Other clients of his were more than happy to explain why they wanted him to do what he does. They never paid him until after the job was done, either.

That leads Jungkook to believe that this guy (or girl) is desperate for his services, convincing him to do it with payment before and after. Almost as if Jungkook would refuse after he found out who the target was...

Jungkook flips the page and scrutinizes the picture of the target.

She's very simple looking, Jungkook thinks. The girl in the picture is wearing a white flowy skirt with a blue blouse that covers her whole arms and white chunky tennis shoes. Her hair is in a low ponytail and it seems like she has headphones in as she walks down the street. There's a tiny smile on her face as if she's thinking about something that makes her happy.

Jungkook doesn't find her particularly beautiful, but she isn't ugly either. She's just very...

Simple...

Jungkook shakes his head, his eyes going over the photo and the girl's smile one more time. Maybe she's a double agent? Or a part of the mafia disguising herself as a school teacher?

He can't figure it out.

It doesn't matter much though, the job seems simple enough and the pay is more than he's ever gotten. After looking through everything once more, Jungkook closes the file and grabs his bagel, quickly eating it before getting up to get dressed for the day.

That night, Jungkook lays out his outfit for the next day.

It's all black, but not suspicious-looking. After all these years, he's been able to design the perfect outfits to avoid attention being drawn to him and simple enough so that no one would think much of him if he were to catch anyone's attention.

It might seem simple, but he prides himself on being able to get each part of his job perfectly designed for each case he gets.

Heaven knows it's taken him years to accomplish.

After he's gotten that all figured out, he walks over to his closet and pulls out a small safe. Setting it on the bed, he swiftly unlocks it and looks inside. He pulls out a few things, examining each of them before he sets them one by one onto his bed. Once he's got the items all laid out, he steps back to look it all over.

"I should wait to decide..." Jungkook mumbles to himself. After a minute of staring at everything, he nods and gathers it all up, carefully putting it back into the safe and locking it tightly. Then he brings it back to his closet and shoves it into the darkest corner where it lives.

That can wait.

He pulls his phone out and checks the time.

11:45

"Damn it," Jungkook mutters. He had wanted to get some sleep earlier tonight since he would have to be awake early tomorrow.

He changes into some shorts, then he yanks his shirt off and immediately climbs into bed, not even bothering to shower or brush his teeth. He really couldn't care less with how tired he is. And he hasn't even started yet.

His alarm blares at an ungodly hour as Jungkook groans loudly, resisting the temptation to chuck his phone across the room.

"I hate Mondays." He mutters angrily, setting his phone back on the nightstand far from gracefully.

He miserably drags himself out of bed and into the shower, going through his morning motions almost like a robot. His brain isn't fully awake and it's just on autopilot right now.

An hour later, he's just finishing his coffee, his eyes no longer squinting in exhaustion. Jungkook unceremoniously drops his coffee cup into the sink, promising himself he'll clean it up later, then he sighs as he grabs his black boots, walking to the couch to sit and pull them on. After he's done lacing them up, he grabs the file he's been avoiding like the plague since yesterday morning.

He mutters to himself, looking at the name on the page.

"I know that name."

Then he smacks his forehead to get himself to focus again. He stands up and folds the page with the girl's information and then her picture and tucks them into the inside pocket of his black jacket.

Time to get to work.

Jungkook spots the girl almost instantly, the second she steps out of a black car. He glances at the driver, but can only see a person with shoulder length black hair waving. The girl from the picture has a bunch of things in her arms as she blows a kiss to the short-haired driver.

Jungkook has been here since six-thirty in the morning and just as he was beginning to think she called in sick for work, he's finally gotten a chance to see this girl in person. She looks exactly as he remembers from her picture...plain.

She's even wearing the same white skirt and chunky tennis shoes, although this time she has a different top. Her hair is in a high ponytail this time.

"Well, ___. Nice to meet you." Jungkook mutters, watching closely.

After a moment, the black car drives away as the girl scurries into the school, tripping on the last step before straightening herself out again, then disappearing from his sight.

Huh.

Jungkook stares at the door for another minute, then he makes his way to the stores nearby, knowing he's gonna have to wait until the girl leaves. School for the young kids typically gets out at around three-thirty. So, he'll have to be back here around then.

He's definitely going to need to find something to do to kill time.

Jungkook heaves a sigh of relief when he hears the school bell finally ring.

He hurries from the clothes store he was browsing and down the street a block until he's almost across the street from the school. He finds a good spot where he can sift through some newspapers at a little stand and still have an eye on the school.

After a minute, he sees a long line of tiny children coming out from the school. The girl is with them and smiling brightly. Jungkook thinks he can hear some of the kids quacking like ducks. He tries not to look puzzled as he goes back to talking to the person working the paper stand. Jungkook makes small talk with the old man, still keeping an eye on the girl across the street as she waves to each child that leaves.

If she's some mafia boss disguised as a kindergarten teacher, she's one hell of a good actress.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" The old man inquires curiously.

Jungkook laughs softly and shakes his head, "No. I've been so busy with my work I never got the chance to date."

The man nods knowingly. They chat a bit more and Jungkook finds himself trying to balance talking to the man and watching the girl.

"Well, did you want to buy a paper for the day?"

Jungkook turns his gaze back to the old man and nods, "Yes. Two, please. My neighbor would probably enjoy one as well."

The old man laughs and nods, taking the money Jungkook hands him and giving him two papers, "What a kind young man you are. Someday you'll find a lovely young lady, don't you worry, son. You will realize that work is important, but love is even more so."

Jungkook just laughs and thanks the man, then he opens the paper as he slowly starts walking, pretending to read.

He stops at a bench and sits down to wait. The girl went back into the school a few minutes ago, hopefully, she won't be in there long.

Luck seems to be with him today, because, after only about five minutes, Jungkook sees a familiar white skirt flowing as she skips down the steps of the school.

He folds his paper carefully, tucking it into his back pocket. The girl puts little earbuds in and immediately starts to mouth the words of whatever song she's listening to. Jungkook tugs his black baseball cap down a little more as he follows on the other side of the street.

The girl has a bag decorated with cupcakes and cookies that bounces up and down as she dances a little.

What is she, twelve?

Jungkook watches in confusion as the girl stops to pet a dog, giggling when the puppy licks her hand. She straightens up, then after another minute, she seems to get distracted by something else.

Jungkook looks carefully and notices she's picked up a flower that was laying on the ground, seemingly trampled on. She gently holds it in her hands as she continues on her way. It goes on like this for the next fifteen minutes, the girl waving to people and smiling almost the whole way.

By the time she is walking up the steps to her apartment, Jungkook is dying to just get back home. That must have been the longest most annoying walk he's ever taken while tracking someone. The girl had stopped over twenty times, distracted by something else each time, he's sure of it.

Just to be sure, Jungkook lingers around the apartment building a little longer, but when it seems apparent that the girl is going to be staying there, he finally heads home.

Geez, Jungkook thinks in annoyance as he climbs the stairs that lead to his own apartment. His head is spinning with so many questions while he unlocks his door and yanks his boots off with a groan.

But when he plops down onto his bed in his tiny studio apartment, he just stares at the ceiling, his mind suddenly blank apart from one question.

Who in the hell would put a hit on this girl?

a/n: I hope you guys are liking the setup so far, thank you for all the positive reactions from the prologue!

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worstloki · 3 years

Text

Top Forty Thor-Being-Thor Moments from Thor 1

just absolute dumb*ssery that this 7yr old kid’s life goal is to “hunt down the monsters and slay them all”. I’ll go easy on him here and let the Thor/Loki expressions do the talking because of “...just like you did Father” but seriously can his hands even fit around a sword handle??? this kid isn’t even punching the air right??? if there was a sword in his hand he would’ve cut his head with the way he’s moving???? pure tiny-himbo energy here just look at that >:o face he’s making. contrasts very nicely with Loki’s ‘,:|. 10/10. such a baby idiot.

“the jotuns must pay for what they have done! they broke into the weapons vault! if the frost giants had stolen even one of these relics!” thor. thor please. can you even name one of these relics. thor. hey thor. thor. shut up. “well, what would you do about this?” odin asks him. “march into jotunheim! like you once did! break their spirits! so they’ll never try anything like this again!” wow okay so we’ve fast-forwarded by like a thousand years and thor is still going on about genocide. huh. that’s funny, i thought loki was the genocidal one. hmm. i also just realized that the loki exclusive clip gives loki the same hairstyle thor has here so do what you will with that information.

0/10. horrible. terrible. i dont care how angy thor is about not getting to kill some jotuns or become king today this very instant, that is a tremendous waste of food. an absolute fool. how can he just remorselessly throw the bread to the floor. if loki stabbed him when he was 7 he would deserve it for this table flip alone. what a privileged white *ssh*le.

loki came skulking around a corner and suggested not to go to jotunheim and not only did thor not suspect anything but he also then went on to decide to go to jotunheim. 10/10 himbo material.

if tumblr didn’t have a picture limit i would put every instance of thor smiling in this list because look at that stupid smile. he’s such an idiot. 11/10. this is the thor content i’m here for.

“I have no plans to die today” thor says with the stupidest open-mouthed smirking smile ever captured on film. right after he also told heimdall not to tell anyone they’re gone. he’s literally planned to strand them on jotunheim. thor’s grand plan was to strange themselves on jotunheim and also start a fight. i repeat: thor’s plan was to successfully slay all the frost giants and not need to return until they’re all gone. what an absolute d*mb*ss. this is getting ridiculous. this was originally a top-ten-thor moments list but i’m not even twenty minutes in so i’ll have to extend the list. thor. thor are you listening? thor, you’re such an idiot.

“HOW DID YOUR PEOPLE GET INTO ASGARD?!” thor you sweet sweet summer idiot, please, i am beggin,g you,, learn to rea,d , a room,, literally everyone else who came with you is regretting it, there is complete silence and only the rumble of the opposing king is meeting your “I AM THOR, SON OF ODIN”s, please, please take some notes from Loki, or, you know, literally anyone else in the room, since everyone is asking you to get out of this realm while you still can,

thor’s stupid smile makes an appearance after he gets called a princess and decides to fight a whole realm over it. you know what? thor is a princess. he’s the prettiest princess in all the lands. what’s thor gonna do about it? is he going to fight me too? I hope he does the stupid grin first. minus 15 points for the sexism. thor is a complete and utter sadistic fool who needs to get a hobby. seriously, he’s 1500 years old and still going on and on about slaying all the frost giants. boi, i hate to break it to you, but your dad is not the best or only example of greatness out there. i don’t think your dad even qualifies as an example of that.

“THEN. GO!” 🥰 ahh yes, just thor thingz 🥰🥰 like when one friend has had his arm burnt 🥰 and another friend has been impaled and needs medical attention, 🥰🥰 and all the rest of your friends are yelling for you, 🥰 and your brother is telling you they must go, 🥰 and you decide to buy everyone time by laughing maniacally and killing more frosties because you care for them and dont find joy in destruction like a loon 🥰🥰🥰

THIS is the iconic Thor moment that makes my day whenever I think about it. Just Thor, an absolute bumbering 6′6′’ giant boodlusting dummy sees Odin and just decides to yell “FATHAA!! WE’LL FINISH THEM TOGETHAAA!” as if the last thing Odin told him wasn’t “no, thor, we’re not going to do anything to the frost giants, do not go after them and try to kill them all.” 11/10 d*mb*assery right here folks, I couldn’t ask for Thor to be more of a fool. This is PEAK Thor energy. Look at that face. I feel like Thor spends half this movie with his nostrils flared. I love it.

okay i gotta give thor credit for rightfully calling odin “an old man and a fool” but also there was not even 1 frame of the scene where Thor had a decent face so now all i see is >:O >:| >:o >:[ when i watch that scene. yelling at odin was great, not yelling at odin after he HUAERGHed at loki was less great, but to be fair it’s thor and he is the definition of Peak D*mb*ss.

thor literally GROWLS and starts yelling “HAMMAA?? HAMMER??” over and over. He was hit by a van, he fainted, he woke up and started growling. I don’t know what else there is to say about this.

“you dare threaten me? puny human?”. so. uhh. basically. Thor knew she was threatening him? He KNEW she had a weapon? instead he made a face and started yelling as he tried to walk his way closer????? thor you complete and utter dum dum. you frickin hairball-for-brains. im not even surprised darcy tasered him. with that kind of face, i’d taser him too.

when you wake up in an unknown place to a person smiling at you without a stupid smile, the first step is always to attack first and ask questions later 😌😌😌 (but seriously thor you imbecile why didn’t you ask where you were instead of throwing multiple people around the room and getting your butt needled. you clueless buffoon. you’ll remain a clueless buffoon if you don’t listen to anyone.)

just a quick recap but thor was knocked unconscious by a van and these people kidnapped him aboard and the next scene we see him in he’s checking himself out in mirror after presumably changing right there in the open?????? these are the things that make thor thor. any other character and i’d question it so much, but this is thor, and i truly believe this is in-character for him. just change in the open because why not? thor is a beefcake and that’s his only redeeming quality and he knows it. 10/10 thor moment.

I am now convinced that Thor saw Jane and “5k van-hitter to lover slow-burn height-difference himbo-scientist trope” flashed through his mind.

“but no more smashing!” Jane says, and then Thor proceeds to check her out and smile unlike an idiot and like a douche. was this his version of flirting???? i’m not one to decide, but yes, yes it was. He threw a cup to the ground and broke it, and she’s getting mad at him and berating him about it, and he’s liking it. y’all i’m sorry to break it to you like this, but thor has a canon fetish. i am so, so sorry.

im DYING. THAT ISN’T EVEN A KISS, HIS MOUTH IS OPEN. he SMUSHES his mouth around her knuckle???? WHY. I can’t keep noticing things like this. send help. please. Jane’s response makes so much more sense now; she’s laughs for a solid 3 seconds and shakes her head and is like “uhh, thank you? ahaha,” and then she keeps looking back longingly when walking away. they are doing this in PLAIN sight of EVERYONE. Darcy and Erik are standing RIGHT THERE, and Thor is doing weird things to her with his mouth. I’m out. I am done here. goodbye.

return of the stupid smile AND the douche smile in quick succession through the entire trip. their entire dialogue is peppered with innuendo. “I’ve never done anything like this before. have you ever done anything like this before?” “many times, but you are brave to do it.” “I have nothing else to lose.” “ah but you are clever, far more clever than anyone else on this realm.” “realm? rEaLm?” “you think me strange?” “yes” “good strange or bad strange?” “I haven’t decided yet.” I AM DYING OVER THIS. plus, we get Return Of The Himbo with Jane asking after Einstein Rosen bridges and Thor is like “uh, actually, more like a rainbow bridge 😜🤪” i feel so sorry for jane here, didn’t know how much of a d*mb*ss Thor was when signing up for this van-trip and knuckle-sucking 😭😭😭 i also no longer have questions about how the trip that SHOULD HAVE BEEN A HALF-HOUR ONE turned into one that LASTED TILL THE SUN WENT FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE SKY TO SETTING by the time they arrived. I have no questions. please. I don’t want to know what they were doing in that van. please no. don’t make me think about it.

thor’s plan had 3 steps and they were 1. give jane his jacket 2. walk in and get his hammer 3. fly out. that was literally his plan. he had the first “I have a plan. attack.” moment in the MCU. pure concentrated 0-brain-cells energy right here. how can you not stan this king of d*mb*ssery. look at him, flaunting his big boy muscles. he’s about get his hammer and fly out, like he just told jane with a trademark stupid-smile.

crop-top hair-mop thor is my favourite thor. the way the entire fight scene parallels a hamster in a maze only exemplifies the thor vibes for some inexplicable reason.

“you’re big. fought bigger.” + Thor douche-smile + subtext from earlier + rolling around passionately in the mud = not a happy me.

I swear i’m not making up this romantic subtext but it’s barely even subtext. the entire scene leading up to Thor’s attempt at lifting the hammer is actually filmed erotically. I’m not kidding. First there’s a shot where Thor pulls aside a hamster-cage-wall blind which mirrors a shower-curtain, and THEN he walks around the hammer while smiling douche-ly at it, we get a few close-ups to his face which are shot from angles slightly lower than himself, giving him an aire of superiority, plus the music adds to this, he reaches out for the hammer’s handle with a mud-covered arm in the rain, in non-slow-motion slow-motion, and he wraps his arm around it, like, he fully twists his arm, unecessarily sexually, around it as he grabs the hammer. This is not okay. On the plus side, it makes the movie much more entertaining,, on the down side,,.

im not going to call Thor dumb for not knowing he’s not worthy. im not going to. because odin literally whispered the enchantment to mjolnir after he’d thrown thor to midgard. it is very funny watching thor grunt in frustration though. he starts yelling because he couldn’t lift the hammer and just lets himself get caught. like, dude, get a life, go buy a new weapon from the store, seriously. he mourns for the hammer on-screen longer than he does for loki. he also looks like he’s in far more pain here. he becomes catatonic and unresponsive after this, but when loki dies he’s already feasting the same afternoon. 10/10 dum dum thor material. never change thor, never change. (that’s code for please change, thor, please,)

thor trying to establish dominance wherever he goes is the funniest thing because at this point he’s being a complete asgardian *ss about it and it’s reaching points of pettiness never seen before. side note: he is possibly flirting with selvig too. maybe. i’m not saying anything happened, but Thor’s openning lines when bringing him home carried over his shoulder are “he’s fine, not injured at all,” followed with an apology to selvig, and an explanation to jane which consisted only of “we drank, we fought, he made his ancestors proud,” and then he puts the man to bed and before he falls asleep erik says “i still don’t believe you’re the g*d of th*nder, but you ought to be,” so... your choice, i guess...

thor’s got his trademark stupid smile and stupidly takes jane’s life’s work notebook and starts doodling in it about trees. the last time his father told him this story about Yggdrasil was when he was 5 and he clearly hasn’t payed attention to any lesson about anything since and it shows so so much. thank you thor. very insightful knowledge you’re passing on hear. ‘i come from a world where [science and magic] are one and the same,’ ok great, now elaborate on that please. oh, right, you can’t because you’re thor, my bad, 20/10 thor behaviour. he couldn’t even doodle nicely. all his lines are wobbly. epic art fail. i wouldn’t trust him near my sketchbook with a 2B pencil.

THIS is thor’s realization face. in case anyone was interested in what ‘dawning truth’ looked like on him. 😰😪 THIS is the face of a thinker, of a man betrayed by his own beloved brother for unprecedented reasons. look at the nuance in his expression. 😩😩😩 so many emotions, I can’t even count them all 😩💯😪

stupid smile and “do not worry my friends, i have a plan,” he says, “i’ll just try and abuse the fact that Loki’s super selfless and kind and has no self worth to my benefit as i have countless times before which is exactly what he’s rightfully angry about this time,” he doesn’t think to himself because that is NOT the smile of someone who is thinking... like, at all. +10000 points to gryffinthor. the d*mb*ssery really jumps out.

“im sorry bro for whatever i did and whatever you’re blaming me for as an excuse to do this, im sorry bro, but you’re disturbing innocents that i don’t really care about but you’re the one making a scene in front of them so why don’t you admit you won’t kill me and are just having a temper tantrum and we move on? hmm?” and then he proceeds to get slam dunked in the face with a metal arm like yEAAAA BOI that’s what you GET for going up against the SENTIENT LAVA-SPEWING metal-man ya absolute dunderhead clod. thunderhead clod? yeah, that. he’s just so dumb, your honour, please, you must understand, the victim pleads guilty on all charges of d*mb*ss and d*mb*ss alone.

I can NOT describe the emotions I feel knowing that Thor is suck-kissing Jane’s knuckles. Like, his mouth is literally jelly-ing it up against her hand. There is suction there and it shows when he is placing and removing his mouth. I promise that’s what is happening. I’m not any happier than you about this. I regret everything. This is why Loki should be what is focused on and not Thor; Thor’s going around trying to frick frack everything in sight even if it’s just Jane’s hand. He’s maintaining eye contact with Jane while he licks her fingers. Why did I decide to rewatch this movie.

i’m only adding this in as a thor moment because of how desperately and badly they kiss. seriously. 2/10 kiss. im not surprised jane broke up with him. they look like two actual seals fighting over an actual grape. while i’m here i’m going to criticize every fic ever that decided thor is an experienced gentle lover. what were y’all on when watching this movie. thor can and will f*ck literally everything in sight and he won’t even do it well because he is the peakest of peak d*m d*m. look at this man. look at his face. that is the face of an absolute himbo idiot, and it’s the face of an absolute himbo idiot who knows it. he’s been stranded on earth for 2 days, max, and his flirt-count is at 69 people because his name is one letter away from thot. i bet his terrible use of a pen from early means he writes his ‘r’s like ‘t’s and he doesn’t even care. 1000/10 thor moment. doesn’t get much more romance-thor than two individuals smooshing their faces together after some finger sucking. that finger sucking is gonna leave jane simping for years. and that’s true love babey. <3

“I’ll handle my Brother!” Thor says, as if Loki didn’t send a metal-murder-bot that quite virtually killed him less than ten minutes ago asdfhkhsdgsdjf Thor, you horrific himbo you, Loki’s weapon of choice is literally throwing knives he will literally kill you before you enter the room if he’s on his game and wants you dead which he just proved he would do and you’re just gonna???????????? jog on over to him????? Thor??????????? bruH???????????? buddy??????? pal???????? you really wanna go 1v1 the brother you very clearly underestimate and know nothing about????????????????? im loving the confidence, but, no.

Loki: “you literally can’t stop this from here.” Thor, immediately: “i’m going to hit it with the hammer and see if that works” and then it does in fact work later... technically speaking, even if it ends up causing chaos destruction and death and loki falling off the bifrost 😔😔😔 but Big Brain Thor is the Biggest Brained Thor!!! The plan worked!! in a messy-Thor-ish way, but it did!!!

“you can’t kill an entire race!!!!” Thor yells, teeth gritted, as he faces his brother, his coward pacifist brother, who has suddenly decided he wants to join the age-old family tradition of realm-destroying, when this is supposed to be Thor’s dream, Thor’s, not Loki’s. How dare he, Thor thinks to himself, fist clenched around Mjolnir in anger, the pain of the handle pressing against his palm perhaps the only thing preventing him from lashing out at this thought, that’s my planet of monsters to slay, he should go get his own! Loki hits Thor across the face with the back-end of his spear. “Now fight me,” Loki says, but Thor, well, Thor cannot fight, as he remains stunned that of all things Loki would dare steal his life’s ambition, and he is sent sprawling backwards across the observatory, slowly but surely sliding to a stop despite his catatonic, very symbolic silence.

the elegance, the poise, i see your time on earth has made you no less graceful, Thor. the simple magnitude of this sprawl. the spread of the arms. the turn of the feet. this is not a dude, this is a man.

sometimes your brother starts vehemently talking about he’s gonna kill the race of monsters and about how he’s only ever wanted to be your equal and about how he’s not your brother and never was and sometimes you just have to say “this is madness” instead of addressing the issues or asking for any of the deets 🔥 👊💯😩

Loki is whipping Thor’s butt. Both literally, and metaphorically, Loki is whooping Thor’s d*mb*ss. Earlier he knicked Thor’s face, now he’s just pushing Thor around, he uses the spear as a pole and later kicks Thor’s face by kicking vertically up, and Thor, bless him in all his blond golden muscled glory, doesn’t think anything is up with this, gosh he’s such an absolute utter idiot

sometimes your brother laughs way too much and also cries too much in a fight and there are also too many of him so you just need to blast lightning so you get a shot at all of them 😌😌😌 and then put your magical infinitely-heavy hammer on his chest 😌😌😌 but it’s okay because Thor left holes in Loki’s container 😌😌😌

now THIS is the meat to Thor’s funny bone, just the pure unadulterated humour that is Thor saying that there will never be a “wiser king” or a “better father” than Odin, it cracks me up every single time without fail, just the way he says it with a straight face and— what do you mean he wasn’t joking

look at Thor’s stupid smile as he asks Heimdall to spy on jane every single day while conveniently never asking after Loki ever. This is Thor’s face in mourning after he attended a feast after everyone was celebrating after Loki’s death. Look at his stupid smile. I love him your honour. He’s just,, he’s just so frickin stewpeed, just Thor being Thor, just the purest of d*mbest of *sses.

#listen #if people can interpret loki and the grandmaster as a thing when loki spends the entire time looking uncomfortable about every situation #then i can interpret thor as flirting with people when there are actual canon questions which get solved when other explanations dont work #so #dont mind me here #in conclusion: thor is a dum dum idiot and it's *chef's kiss*#thank you for coming to my ted talk #ThisPostIsLongerThanMyLifeSpan #TPILTMLS #Language!#language #im one of those people who comments on things through movies but you can't be mad because it's worth it and i've got points #obviously writing means i can get the full gist of the comments out without summarizing #but #like #my family is simply underappreciative and i'm a genius

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another-tmnt-writer · 4 years

Text

You Fell From the Sky - Part 2

Leonardo x Reader

Author: Admin Mo

Summary: After falling from the sky and landing literally in the arms of your favorite turtle, it takes some adjustment to live in another reality, but with the help of the leader in blue, you’re getting used to it.

Note: Let it be known that I wrote the first part of this before I knew reality shifting was a thing, but now that I know it is……let me tell you, I am tempted…

Warnings: None?

Word Count: 1.6k

It had been three weeks. Three whole weeks living in the lair. You were over the moon. Honestly, it was spectacular. However, after three weeks without a phone charger (you’d been using it very, very sparingly and had it turned off most of the time) your phone was now at one percent. So, you popped into the lab, where Donnie was at the moment.

“Hey Donnie?” You asked tentatively, standing in the doorway.

“Oh, hey (Y/N)! Can I help you with something?” He asked, his voice friendly. He looked up at you, giving you his full attention from whatever he was working on.

“Um, do you have a phone charger I can use?”

“Of course!” He pulled open a drawer on his desk that was absolutely filled with charging chords of every time, meticulously organized with twist ties. “What kind do you need?”

“iPhone.” You said.

He reached into the drawer and handed you a ten-foot chord. “Here you go.”

“Thank you!” You smiled. “What are you working on, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I don’t mind!” He scooted over to let you see his screen. “I’m working on figuring out how to open an interdimensional portal right now. Sorry it’s taking me so long.”

“Don’t be sorry. This is literally groundbreaking work. You’re a genius, but I definitely didn’t expect you to do it overnight.”

“Well that’s reassuring.” He chuckled. “I’ll keep you posted. Don’t want to keep you here any longer than we have to.”

You knew he was kidding about the last bit, but your heart sank a little when he said it. You liked being at the lair. You liked spending time with the guys. Sure, you wanted to go home at some point, but you wished it didn’t have to come so soon.

“Thank you, Donnie.”

You left the lab to find Leo lingering just outside. He looked concerned, his arms crossed, head tilted, blue, blue eyes focused on you. “You okay?” he asked softly.

You nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. Why?”

“No reason. You just seemed a little down.” He answered. He stared at you for a moment before remembering, “Oh, April is here. She brought you some more clothes.”

“Awesome. Thank you so much.”

“Don’t mention it.” He shrugged, leading you back out to the living room, where Mikey was ranting about something to April and Casey while Raph listened and shook his head.

You stared at each of them for a long moment, absorbing. Megan Fox and Stephen Amell were standing like twenty feet away from you. It was overwhelming to say the very least. “Holy shit…”

“Hi! You must be (Y/N). I’m April. This is Casey.”

“Hockey puck has got a bit of a chip on his shoulder, but he means well.” Raph elaborated.

“This is so insane.” You laughed, smiling at them. “It’s incredible to meet you. The boys…told you where I’m from, right?”

“Yeah, they did.” April nodded. “That must have been quite the jump.”

“It was. I’m still…getting used to it, I guess.”

“Well, take your time.” She nudged Raph playfully. “They take some getting used to.”

“Hey!” Raph scoffed, nudging her back. “Ya took some getting used to yourself, O’Neil.”

“I wouldn’t worry too much.” Leo said, his eyes sparkling. “I think you’re fitting in just fine.”

You ignored the way your heart raced when he said it, replying with a smirk, “I agree.”

***

It was later that night. You were in the kitchen, baking with Splinter’s permission. He was in his room drinking tea and the boys were out on patrol. That was the other thing. Every time they left, you felt empty. You knew they’d be fine, but there was always a little bit of worry nagging in the back of your brain. What if they…weren’t?

So: stress-baking. The recipe of the evening? Chocolate chip cookies. They were a classic you were sure the boys would like. Your hair was up in a messy bun and you had some tunes playing from your phone. You scooped out the balls of cookie dough, setting them in careful rows on the pan before sticking them into the hot oven.

You baked for a few hours, rotating trays until you had a batch big enough to feed four hungry mutant turtles, their father, and yourself.

You switched off the oven, and right as you did, you heard their voices echoing through the tunnels until finally, they entered the lair.

“Good night?” You asked hopefully.

“Better now, angelcakes.” Mikey winked and then stopped in his tracks when he saw the steaming pile of fresh-baked cookies. His eyes widened and he gasped excitedly. “Are these for us?”

“Yep.”

“Wow, she bakes, too, Leo.” Raph teased, reaching for a cookie in time with Donnie.

“Thanks, (Y/N),” said the turtle in the purple bandana.

“Of course.”

Leo went in for one last, still reeling a bit from Raph’s comment, his cheeks rosier than usual. He said softly, “Thank you for doing this.”

“Thank you for letting me crash here. I honestly don’t know what I would have done without you guys finding me when you did.”

“It’s the least we could do.” Leo insisted.

“Alright, quit yer flirting. Let’s all go watch a movie or something.” Raph insisted, walking out towards the TV. The rest of you followed, and of course when you and Leo went to find seats, the only two that were left were right next to each other.

You settled in, blushing a bit. Raph had a smug smirk on his face.

“What?” You challenged, causing him to chuckle.

“Nothin’.”

As it got later, it also got colder, and you soon found yourself shivering the slightest bit, wishing you’d thought to grab a blanket before the movie started like the rest of the guys had.

“Are you cold?” Leo asked.

Instead of telling him you weren’t like you wanted to, you nodded. Without hesitation, he pulled half of his large blue blanket onto your lap, letting you share his warmth. As if you weren’t blushing enough before, he just had to be a gentleman and fluster you even further.

“T-thanks.” You could have punched yourself for stuttering, but Leo didn’t seem to mind. He still kept a polite distance from you, his leg a good few inches from yours despite the blanket that was draped across you both.

You were quiet for the rest of the movie, and when it was over, Raph went to work out, Donnie retreated into his lab, and Mikey went to his room to scroll through TikToks on his phone. That left you and Leo sitting awkwardly under the large blue knitted blanket you were sure Raph had made. Maybe it had been a Christmas present or something. You weren’t sure.

“Not to give you déjà vu, but I’m sorry about Raph.” Leo chuckled. “I asked him to stop, so of course it only got worse.”

“I really don’t mind.” You told him, meeting his clear blue gaze. “That’s what brothers do, isn’t it?”

He laughed. “Yeah, I guess it is. Do you have any siblings?”

“No, unfortunately. I’m an only child. Grew up with my aunt because my parents couldn’t be bothered to actually parent.”

“Mmm.” Leo hummed, nodding.

“I guess that’s probably why I latched onto the idea of you guys so much as a kid. I liked the idea of a sibling bond like that. Working together as a team. Having a built-in group of friends to hang out with.”

“It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, but we do work well together.” Leo agreed. “When we’re not bickering, that is.”

You were quiet for a moment, mustering up courage before you said, “He’s right, though. Raph, I mean.”

Leo stared at you, his eyes widening in half-realization. “What…how…what do you mean?” His voice cracked when he asked it, his heart pounding.

“Well…Leo, I’ve had a crush on you since I was fifteen years old; I doubt it’s going away anytime soon.”

He looked at you in shock, pretty sure he’d hallucinated what you just said. All he could reply with was a shaky, “On me?”

You laughed. “Yes, Leo. On you. It’s okay if you don’t feel the same. I’m not even supposed to exist here.”

“I do. Feel the same.” He blurted. His statement was quick, but it was firm. Carefully, he took your hand in his large, green, three-fingered one and he was reminded just how different the two of you actually were. He was about to let go, but you squeezed his hand reassuringly. He laughed at himself, slightly embarrassed to be floundering in front of you, but it was out of his control. “I’m sorry, I’m new to this.”

“That’s okay.” You smiled, tucking a piece of hair behind your ear.

“I promise I’ll do my best to make you happy. Just let me know if I’m doing something wrong. I’m learning, after all.” His thumb rubbed the back of your hand. “And I know that…at some point you’re going to have to go back. But…I’m willing to make the most of whatever time we have.”

“Me too.” You nodded. A yawn slipped from your lips. It was getting late. You wouldn’t be surprised if the sun was already up. “I think it’s about time I got to bed.” You told him, standing up and setting the blanket on the couch.

Since you’d been there, the boys had created you a makeshift room of your own in one of the giant pipes in the wall, a little one with your own mattress and some bedding Raph had whipped up for you.

Leo stood up too, towering over you as soon as he did. You stood on your toes and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

“Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.” Leo replied, smiling at you like you’d put the moon and stars in the sky with your bare hands. “See you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow.” You echoed, walking off towards your pipe, a new kind of warmth swirling around in your chest.

#leonardo x reader #leonardo imagine #leonardo #leo x reader #leo imagine #leo #tmnt #tmnt imagine #tmnt 2016 #tmnt 2014

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pennamesmith · 3 years

Text

Return of the Skeletor

A family reunion. Find more Skeletor stories here!

Micah remembered the other world.

Most people could, in fact. The whole planet was affected. They’d all lived a life they thought was perfect. They’d all imagined something intangible. The memories were faded and fragmentary, like the recollection of a dream, but everyone was certain it had really happened.

Even if nothing that had happened was real.

At first Micah didn’t realize anyone else had shared in the dream. He’d lost track of time on Beast Island long ago, and when the collapsing portal closed around him he only assumed it was one of the despairing wasteland’s many tricks. He never had long to dwell on the matter, either. Soon after finding himself returned to reality (he could remember shouting to Angella, reaching for her, trying to tell her “I’m not dead!”) Micah had met the loud and unusual Princess Entrapta. And after her there came…

“She-Ra! It’s She-Ra!” a nasally voice shrieked.

Micah was startled out of his reverie by a sudden clattering of hooves. The door to his Bright Moon office burst inwards and he was presented with the sight of a breathless Swift Wind. Sitting astride the rainbow-winged unicorn was one of Entrapta’s bots, a lanky drone she’d named ‘Skeletor.’

“The time has come!” Skeletor said.

“It’s true!” Swift Wind confirmed. “I felt the sacred bond return just a minute ago. Adora and the others are back from Eternia! Darla is over the Whispering Woods right now!”

“What?” Micah jumped to his feet, abandoning his desk without a second thought. It was covered in a mountain of paperwork: royal records, his regent’s duties, and the calendar pages where he’d marked off every day since Glimmer and the rest of the Princess Alliance left for their dangerous mission to another universe. He rushed to the door where Swift Wind was standing.

Skeletor reached out and helped Micah onto the horse’s back. “Join hands as we bring together our mystic powers!” the robot cried. Once Micah was settled, Swift Wind turned and leapt out the nearest window. They sailed through the skies.

“What’s going on? Are they all right?” Micah asked, with undisguised worry.

Swift Wind banked, soaring over the tree line. “I’m not sure! The ship is under control but — look, there it is!”

Darla, the rebuilt First Ones ship, was descending rapidly from the sky over the treetops. Her flight was steady, but parts of the hull were damaged, and smoke trailed from one wing. Suddenly the ship lurched and plummeted into the trees, vanishing from sight. A plume of vegetation went flying as it plowed to a smouldering stop.

Micah felt his stomach twist. “We need to get closer!” he called out in a panic.

“I can take you there!” Skeletor declared, urging Swift Wind toward the ground. They touched down by the edge of a long path of smoking destruction that stretched deep into the woods.

“They must have landed near here,” Skeletor deduced, observing the massive trench in the ground. He hopped off the horse’s back and ran ahead, making anxious utterances as he went.

Micah dismounted and walked beside Swift Wind. “I hate this,” Micah confessed. “The staying behind, I mean. At least on Beast Island I was the only one I had to worry about, and I was in control of my own survival. But having to stand by while Glimmer goes into danger? I’m so proud of her, yet I’m also so scared.”

“I know what you mean,” Swift Wind answered. “I trust Adora, but I also worry about her, like, all the time. Whenever we’re apart I get so restless. I just feel powerless!”

“Sometimes letting them find their own way is all we can do,” Micah mused.

They came into a clearing in the woods. Darla was there, sparking and steaming but generally intact. Skeletor hammered on the door.

“Here, let me try to get you out!” he called.

Something inside the ship made a noise. There was a hiss and a jet of steam, and Skeletor tumbled backwards, landing with a squawk at Micah and Swift Wind’s feet. They all stared at Darla, holding their breath expectantly.

The front hatch of the spaceship popped open. Entrapta erupted out of it, tumbling down the landing ramp in a ball of frizzled hair. She pulled her goggles up.

“Aha! We made it!” she crowed, taking in her surroundings. “All in the right dimension and everything!”

She reached into the recesses of her hair and emerged with a haggard Hordak. “Your piloting saved us! I knew you could do it!” she told him proudly.

Hordak squinted through half-lidded eyes. “Is it over?” he muttered. “Are we still alive?”

“Yep!” Entrapta wobbled to her feet and gathered her partner up in her ponytails. “Now, let’s get you a checkup and some rest. You’ve had a stressful voyage!”

She suddenly seemed to notice the gathered onlookers. “Oh! Hi Skeletor. Hi Bird Horse. Hi Micah. Guess what? You’re gonna love this!” Entrapta turned back to the ship. “Safe to disembark, crew!” she yelled, before trotting off with Hordak.

“Now we’ll see how clever you are!” Skeletor said.

Mermista peeked around the door. “Ground!” she cried, throwing herself across the dirt in relief. “I never thought I’d miss you so much!”

“Oh, it wasn’t that bad a flight,” Sea Hawk cajoled, helping her to her feet. “Why, I can think of a dozen — no, two dozen more harrowing trips I’ve taken in the Dragon’s Daughter XXVIII.”

“You fishmonger,” Skeletor scoffed.

Frosta was the next one out, followed closely by Perfuma and Scorpia. “Eternia was amazing!” the teenaged ice princess announced, brandishing a pair of frozen fists. “I got to punch so much stuff!”

“Come on, it wasn’t all violence,” Perfuma pleaded.

“Yeah, we learned a bunch about friendship and responsibility too,” Scorpia agreed.

“Punch! Punch!” Frosta said.

“You’re becoming evil, I can sense it!” Skeletor hummed approvingly. “Excellent!”

Catra and Adora came next, and they were accompanied by a young man Micah had never seen before. He had a pink shirt, bobbed blond hair, and bore an uncanny resemblance to Adora herself. A sword hung on his back. He blinked as he emerged into the light.

Swift Wind’s jaw dropped. “Adora! Is that…?”

“Hey guys!” Adora grinned sheepishly. “So, funny story. You remember how when I was a baby I was taken from a hidden First Ones faction that nobody has ever been able to find since?”

She held her hands out, presenting the newcomer. “Well, uh, we found ‘em! This is my twin brother, Adam!”

Adam smiled and waved. “Hello everybody,” he chirped.

“Brother?” Swift Wind sputtered.

“He-Man!” Skeletor bellowed.

The group fell into a chattering commotion, but Micah was hardly paying attention. Glimmer and Bow had appeared at the top of the ramp, holding each other as they looked out. Emotions that went beyond words swam in the young queen’s eyes.

Adora saw where Micah was looking and quickly pulled her brother away. “We’ll tell you the whole story later, sir! Trust me, it’s hilarious. Now come on, I gotta show you around Etheria, bro.”

“Sure thing, sis,” Adam replied, grinning hugely. They pounded their fists together, adding their own sound effects as they did so, and marched off laughing.

“They have been doing that the entire. Trip. Back,” Catra groaned, following close behind the pair. “Somebody save me.”

“You furry coward,” muttered Skeletor.

At the entrance to the ship, Glimmer and Micah hugged each other fiercely. When they finally broke, the old king could see that his daughter was smiling through her tears.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” Glimmer sniffled. “So much happened. You wouldn’t believe how scary things got! Oh, but I totally had everything under control.”

“I know you did,” Micah smiled back. But he could tell there was more.

Glimmer’s face turned serious. “Dad,” she said shakily, tripping over her own words. “Listen. Entrapta’s theories about the other dimension were right. When we — I mean, didn’t know if…”

Bow stepped in. “Your highness, I think there’s someone you should see.” He beckoned gently. Still at a loss for words, Glimmer nodded and took her father’s hand, leading him inside the ship.

Micah’s heart was racing even before she rose from the chair and turned to face him. His breath caught when he saw the spreading wings, the shining light, the smiling face that he remembered so clearly.

Their eyes met. It was a miracle.

Just like on the island, a part of him couldn’t believe this was really happening. But it was.

They both reached out. They’d mourned each other once. Their hands met.

“Micah?” she asked, hardly believing it herself.

“Angie?”

Outside, both the princesses and their well-wishers had gathered around Adam, excitedly showing off the wonders of their planet. He gazed with delight at everything, marveling in the magical light of Etheria. His laugh brimmed with kindness.

Skeletor elbowed his way through the crowd. “I can’t let any of you delay me! Out of my way, now!” he jabbered. “This is no time for jokes!”

He made it to where Adora stood with her brother and glared. Adam turned in surprise, not sure what to expect. They stared at each other.

Skeletor held his arms wide. “I’ve been waiting a long time for this moment!” he cried. “Take this, He-Man!”

Then he lunged forward, and wrapped Adam in an enormous hug.

“He-Man, I am your friend!”

#spop #she ra fanfiction #skeletor #King Micah #Queen Angella #micangella #glimmer #prince adam #adora #swift wind #princess alliance #smith stuff

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wannabe-fic-writer · 4 years

Text

Natasha Romanoff x Reader : Escape

Summary: The Red Room haunts you, from the moment you stepped foot inside to long after you’ve left. Truth is, you don’t think there is any escaping it.

Warnings: 18+ Violence, Depression, Mentions of Death, Smut

Chapter 3

******

It’s safe to say that you’ve seen a decent amount of the world, having been to places like: France, Spain, the UK, the US, Russia, and South Africa multiple times and you’d thought you’d seen the most beautiful things the earth had to offer.

Which is why you’re so surprised when you see Wakanda for the first time. The country is absolutely breathtaking, while Natasha takes top spot for the most gorgeous sight you’ve ever seen, the place definitely takes a top spot.

But none of it lasts very long. It seems as though things happened in the blink of an eye.

One second you’re walking through the state of the art tech facility built by Shuri and the next you’re being pinned down by rabid aliens with razor sharp teeth.

There you were thinking the toughest fight you’d ever been in involved a guy with silver claws in his knuckles. This proved to be tougher.

Quite honestly, you can’t tell if your side is actually winning or not. For every alien you all take down there are about twenty more where that came from.

“You know when I agreed to help, it wasn’t cause I wanted to get my ass kicked.” You half joke into the comms.

Surprisingly it’s the King that replies,“ trust me, we aren’t planning on losing.”

“Tell that to-”

Bruce’s frustrated and frightened shout interrupts you,“ there’s too many of them!”

You look over to see his giant metal suited form on the ground with about a dozen aliens tearing into him.

Just as you’re about to go help, a beam of rainbows appears in the sky. It touches the ground and an ax flies out, lightening trailing behind it. The ax sails over the battlefield and takes out every alien it hits.

Not only have you stopped in your tracks, but so has everyone around you. All of your eyes on the man that just appeared in the middle of the field. Beside him stands a tree and a raccoon.

He catches the ax in one hand and surveys his surroundings.

Bruce chuckles and exclaims,“ you guys are so screwed now!”

“I’m confused is this guy on our side? Is he not also an alien?” You question.

The man’s words clear it up for you,“ BRING ME THANOS!!”

“Alright, got it.” You nod and throw yourself back into the fight.

You hate to admit it but each hit makes you more and more tired. It’s like your bones shake each time you punch or kick these things.

The people around you chatter, almost lightly, as they fight. Barnes tells the raccoon that he isn’t selling his arm as they shoot at aliens. And Steve chats with the God of Thunder and the tree, who says he’s Groot.

But the talking stops as the ground rumbles beneath your feet.

You take down the nearest alien before looking around.

The source of the tremors is unclear, confusing everyone around you. Briefly.

When giant saws burst from under ground your eyes widen.

“Fall back! Fall back now!” The King shouts retreating.

Everyone follows his orders, running and dodging out of the way of the saws.

Rhodes calls out directions to Sam as everyone seemingly snaps out of it. The fighting continues.

But you’re just a little too slow.

Right before you can start fighting again you’re tackled on to the ground by two aliens.

“Oh shit.” You grunt, holding one of their mouths open. The other snaps at you, teeth scratching your arm as you jerk away.

You punch the first one multiple times and stab a knife into it’s neck. Which leaves you too occupied to fight off the second one properly. It bites you again on the same arm.

“For fuck sake!” You groan through gritted teeth.

The second one starts to writhe as electricity ripples over it’s body. You kick it away before the pulses reach your body.

Looking up, your eyes connect with familiar, warm, green ones.

“Did I just save you?” She asks jokingly.

You take her hand and let her help you up,“ your one to my, what, six?”

Despite the seriousness of the battle around you, Natasha still smiles. As little as it is, she smiles.

That’s where the small moment ends.

“Guys, we got a Vision situation here.” Sam calls out.

“Somebody get to Vision.” Steve replies.

Both you and Natasha look around the field and the woman’s eyes widen. She takes off, running past you and to a trench in the ground. You go to get to Vision.

You make it into the woods just in time to see the big alien guy hit Vision. The android flies right past you, landing on the ground aggressively.

As the two progress on Vision you stand in the way, Bruce dropping in beside you. You both share a quick look before facing the aliens again.

“Oh no, oh no you don't. This isn't going to be like New York, pal. This suit's already kicked the crap out of the Hulk-” Bruce’s words are interrupted as the big one charges him. They struggle for a moment before Bruce flies off with him.

You turn to the lone alien and smirk,“ wanna cut your loses and get outta here now? I bet you’re gonna look mighty weak to Thanos when he hears I kicked your ass.”

The alien grunts,“ humans always make the mistake of overestimating yourselves.”

Instead of replying, you wait for the alien to attack first.

He comes at you with his scepter, swinging it at you, almost gracefully. You make sure to stay in front of Vision, even as you dodge the aliens attacks.

“Hey, I need back up, someone needs to get Vision ba-”

Your eyes widen and you look down at the scepter that’s pierced your skin.

In the midst of you talking and trying to count the aliens attack, he managed to stab you. The blade of his scepter wedged itself into your side.

“Every bit of weak I assumed you were.” He growls, snatching the blade from you.

You grit your teeth, hand pressing into your wound. As much as it hurts, the last thing you want is to lose to Thanos. While you are far from a hero, you want to save the universe since you’re one of the idiots who lives in it.

Finding more strength than you thought you had, you surge forward and slam into the alien. His scepter falls from his hand and you both tumble on the ground.

He gets up much faster than you and tries to come at you again, only to have his scepter stab through him.

Vision raises the alien in the air, holding him there, and then flinging him aside.

“Vision,” you force yourself to stand,“ you gotta get back to Shuri.”

Steve and Wanda both make their way into the woods and over to you and Vision. The brunette goes over to the android while the super solider meets you.

“That looks pretty bad.”

You chuckle breathlessly,“ it looks worse than it feels.” Which is half true.

It hurts but you’ve had worse.

Taking a deep breath, you stand up straight, hand resting on Steve’s shoulder for slight support.

“You think Thanos wants to take a break, maybe lay off for a couple days.”

Steve breathes a chuckle, looking up at Natasha as she comes over.

Her eyes snap to your injury and she’s by your side in an instant.

“Don’t fuss Romanova, I’m fine.” You give the most reassuring smile you can.

“Well this doesn’t look fine.” She remarks.

As much as you want to reply, you don’t. Because you feel the atmosphere shift. Tension swirls around you. The air is so thick if you breathe too hard you swear you might choke.

“Everyone, on my position. We have incoming.” Steve speaks into the comms.

All eyes follow his direction of sight. The King and his general join you, Bruce rejoins you as well, as does Sam.

Blue mist appears, opening to reveal the void of space. A very tall, muscular, purple guy steps out.

Your eyes snap to the golden gauntlet on his hand. All stones but one. Your gaze flickers to Vision, who hangs on to Wanda.

“Cap,” Bruce nods,“ that’s him.”

The eerie feeling in the air set the perfect tone.

Thanos took you all down without batting an eye. Phasing Bruce into a wall, trapping Natasha under debris, flinging you and Okoye away like you’re nothing.

Smacking into a tree literally takes your breath away. You feel yourself losing blood by the minute. Each breath you take is labored but you’ve never given up in your life, despite having every reason to.

It was pretty much ingrained in you to keep going unless absolutely impossible to.

Every bit of you protests as you stand up. Just in time to see Thanos dig his fingers into Vision and yank the stone from his head.

“No, no no no.”

Two steps toward Thanos and you see him get hit with a bolt of lightening. It stops and Thanos shoots a blast at Thor, who just throws his ax through it.

The ax lodges itself into Thanos’ shoulder.

Thanos raises his gauntlet covered hand, and snaps his fingers.

You feel your heart drop before it kicks into overdrive.

In an instant the titan disappears, leaving Thor’s bloody ax, and a very confused group of people.

“Nat.” You look around for the red head,“ Talia!” You call out.

Finally you see her, dazedly walking around.

Knowing that the snap couldn’t possibly be a good thing, you rush over to her. You cup her face and search her eyes for any signs of pain or whatever the hell you’re looking for.

“Where’d he go?” Steve also comes stumbling into the open,“ Thor, where’d he go?”

“Steve?”

You all look over to Barnes who literally turns to dust before your eyes.

You subconsciously tighten the hold you have on Natasha, praying that she doesn’t disappear.

Through the comms you hear the team calling for each other. You hear the general call for the king. The lack of a reply is all the answer you need.

Barnes. Sam. King T’Challa. Groot. Wanda.

With the remainder of you standing around Vision’s lifeless body, you have to ask.

“What the hell just happened?”

Steve exhaustively falls on the ground, right into Wanda’s ashes beside Vision.

“Oh god.” He breathes.

Natasha’s hand grips yours as reality just barely starts to set in for you.

You lost. Big time.

******

Taglist: @thelastavenger-3000 @aaron-despair @messuhp @izalesbean @bvb-bk @username23345 @sighsam

#natasha romanoff x reader #natasha romanoff #natasha romonova #natalia romanova #marvel x reader #marvel #mcu x reader #mcu #reader insert #black widow #black widow x reader #Escape

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bellafarallones2 · 3 years

Text

a/n: t-rated indruck fluff from #21 on Veronica Bunch's college au prompt list: I get stuck with a late class that doesn’t end until 9pm and I’m always anxious about walking across the campus to the dorms, so you offer to walk with me and one night, I find out that it’s in the exact opposite direction that you need to go in

Duck had signed up for Performance Studies because he needed arts credits and because the meeting time, seven to nine in the evening Tuesdays and Thursdays, worked well with the rest of his schedule. He was less happy when the professor emailed out the homework for the first day: a reading that examined the question “what is performance?” for thirteen dense pages without managing to come to a conclusion.

By the time he showed up to the first class, he barely remembered any of the points the reading had made. Most of the other students already seemed to know each other, and were talking in groups when he arrived. Only one man, a tall guy with silver hair whose black roots suggested he’d spent an evening bent over a sink for it, was sitting alone and silent.

“Anyone sitting here?” said Duck.

“You?” said the guy hopefully. He was wearing jeans and a soft beige cardigan over his white shirt, and there was a small rainbow-flag patch on his black backpack.

“I’m Duck,” Duck said. “And my pronouns are he/him.” He still occasionally got read as a butch lesbian, and it was better to establish the pronoun thing right out of the gate.

“Indrid. I also use he/him.”

That was all they said before the professor showed up and class began. The professor genuinely cared about the material, which made the whole thing more interesting, though Duck was still distracted. Indrid had very nice hands, nails painted chipped black, and he doodled the entire class, filling a whole page with spiky fractals.

Finally nine o’clock arrived. The sky outside was pitch-black. “I’m not really looking forward to walking home this late,” Duck said as he stood waiting for Indrid to finish packing up. “Wish I had your punk privilege.”

“Excuse me?” Indrid looked amused.

“You know. You’re tall and you have piercings.” As Duck said that, Indrid stood up, revealing that he was even taller than Duck had previously thought. Jesus, this guy had Slenderman legs. “You look like you could throw a punch.”

“I could use my punk privilege to walk you home, if you’d like.”

“I’d appreciate it, if it’s not too out of your way - I live on High Street next to the REI.”

“Yeah, I’m going that way.”

Duck held the door as they left the building and walked together down the half-lit street. The planes of Indrid’s face looked almost unearthly in the streetlights.

“You an art major?” Duck asked.

“Visual arts and math. I needed to take something in theater or music as a distribution requirement and this was the least theater or music class I could find that was also after noon.”

Duck laughed. “Yeah, I’m in the forestry program and I had to take something artsy.”

Indrid nodded. They walked in silence for a while, but Indrid didn’t seem to mind, his hands shoved into his pockets and his face turned up.

“This is me,” Duck said when they reached the REI. The door to the apartments above was almost unnoticeable next to the brightly-lit storefront.

“Alright,” Indrid said as Duck fiddled with his key. “See you on Thursday!”

“Goodnight!” said Duck when the door swung open, looking around. As soon as Indrid saw that Duck was inside, he turned and walked back the way they’d come. Duck wondered vaguely where he lived; this block didn’t have many students. Ah, well. A question for another day.

On Thursday before class Duck stopped at the snack bar for dinner and spotted a familiar head of silver hair. Indrid was drawing, his head tilted at an odd angle so he could both look at the page and drink from the straw on a sixteen-ounce cherry slushy.

“Mind if I join you?” said Duck.

Indrid looked up and his face lit up. “Of course! I don’t mind, I mean. Please sit.”

Duck realized then that what he’d assumed was art was in fact math, that Indrid was taking notes out of a slim, intimidating textbook. Duck recognized a couple of integral signs and that was about it. “Math, huh?”

Indrid nodded.

“I had to take Calc 2 for my major, I wish I’d known you then so you could have helped me with it.”

Indrid laughed, tapping his pencil. “I’d have been happy to. Certainly numbers make more sense than people do, sometimes.”

“Probably more sense than that performance reading.” Duck leaned forward. “I don’t suppose you’d be down to walk me home again?”

Indrid shrugged. “You’re good company.”

Duck met Indrid again at the local park that weekend. Their homework for the week was to record themselves performing in a way they did in their daily lives, and Duck didn’t feel like getting into gender, so he’d decided to show how he performed when giving a nature talk, and he’d asked Indrid to help film. (He’d offered to help film Indrid’s performance in return, but Indrid had politely declined, joking about performance anxiety.)

It was less awkward than Duck had been expecting. He walked around the park, pointing out the fungus on a tree trunk and a frog sitting with just its eyes over the surface of the water. Indrid, filming on Duck’s phone, smiled encouragingly whenever he met Duck’s eyes, and it was all Duck could do not to break his train of thought to grin back.

“Thank you for helping me,” he said when he was done.

“Thank you for the free nature walk!” said Indrid as he handed Duck’s phone back to him. Their hands brushed against Duck’s smooth phone case. “I come here to draw sometimes, but I’ve never noticed all that before.”

They watched everyone’s videos in class that week. Most of them were pretty boring. Duck cringed through the playing of his own video, though Indrid had done a good job with the camerawork, and a few of the music majors in the class had recorded themselves playing their instruments, which was at least nice to listen to. And then it was Indrid’s turn.

The video opened on a close-up shot of Indrid’s face. I am an artist, the voiceover said, Indrid’s own voice booming across the classroom. Sometimes I even look like it.

The Indrid on the screen bent his head - he was looking not at the camera but at a mirror behind it, putting on heavy eyeliner and spotty mascara. He switched out the subtle studs along the shell of his ear for something heavier, flashier, chain running between the holes. Then he stepped back from the camera and shrugged on a black leather jacket with spikes on the shoulders. A punk jacket. He posed, self-conscious, and as he started laughing the camera cut sharply to his face, again large.

I had an internship last summer with an insurance company calculating risk. He rubbed the makeup off his face with a makeup wipe, his eyes reddening slightly at the contact. He removed the jacket and folded it carefully before placing it out of frame. And then he picked up a pale blue button-down and buttoned it carefully down over his undershirt, and tied a tie in a perfect Windsor around his neck. He removed the bar from his eyebrow and the chains from his ears, which looked rather naked without them.

I perform to look like the things I know I can do. He dabbed concealer over the rosy maple moth tattooed at his neck, one wingtip peeking over the collar of the shirt. Then he held his hand out for a handshake, a business handshake, and sure, he looked like the kind of person Duck would trust to sell insurance. But there was something about his smile, something Duck wondered if anyone else could see. Something that lingered no matter what he wore.

Duck probably should spend less time thinking about his mouth.

“So my lease ends in January,” said Duck casually as they turned the corner onto his street. “And I’ve been having trouble finding other places that rent to students in this neighborhood, so I was wondering how you found your place.”

“Oh,” said Indrid, sounding guilty. “Well, I don’t know how much help I can be. I live up by the corner of 16th street and Broad.”

Duck did some quick mental geography as he climbed the step up to the front door. “That’s completely the other direction!”

“I know.” He was dressed like neither an insurance salesman nor a metal punk, today, with gold studs glittering in his ears like grains of sand and a soft, oversized sweater falling off one shoulder. The black roots of his hair had grown since the beginning of the term.

“You told me the first day of class that walking home wouldn’t be going out of your way! You know I don’t need walking home, right?”

“Of course. I just. Uh. I wanted to spend more time with you. I’m sorry for misleading you, we can stop if it makes you feel weird.”

Duck looked down at him. Indrid stood silently, awaiting judgment. “How about you come in?”

Indrid looked up. “I don’t mean to impose, it’s no trouble to walk home -”

Duck held out his hand. Indrid took it and followed him up the stairs without letting go. “You aren’t allergic to cats, are you?” Duck said when he finally had to take his hand back to unlock the door.

“Even if I was, I’d happily resign myself to sneezing.”

Duck opened the door and, as soon as Indrid was inside, crowded him up against it. Indrid slowly lifted his hands, trembling, and rested them on Duck’s shoulders. His gaze beneath his glasses flicked from Duck’s eyes to his lips and back again.

“Can I kiss you?” Duck said.

“Yes please.”

Indrid’s mouth was warm and soft and yielded so easily to Duck’s tongue, fuck, they should have done this sooner. Class would have been so much more bearable if he could have been looking over at Indrid’s lips the whole time knowing that as soon as class was over he could drag him out into the hallway, into one of the gender-neutral bathrooms in the arts building and kiss him silly.

“You don’t have any morning classes tomorrow, do you?” Duck asked when he finally pulled away enough to speak.

Indrid shook his head.

“Want to watch a movie and make out?”

“That sounds perfect.”

#indruck

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hermits-that-craft · 4 years

Text

Staying With The Traitor - Chapter Two

Hope

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26695042/chapters/65201827

“Eret where did you go?” Nikki’s voice echoes through the large, empty castle. Sunlight filters through the rainbow stained glass, casting beautiful patterns onto the floor.

She knows it’s dangerous to be walking so close to the glass, so close to where the Manburgians could see her, but she doesn’t care. Eret is missing, and she needs to find him. “Eret?”

“I’m here!” Eret’s voice calls out. “Sorry for worrying you Nikki.”

“I heard the Manburgians last night.” Nikki says, her pace quickening as she runs towards where Eret’s voice came from. “I thought they attacked us.”

“Not us, another hunting party.”

“Did they find the boys?” She asks, her hair flowing behind her as she runs into the throne room.

Where Tommy and Wilbur stand, bandages covering any exposed limbs and outfits soaked through with water, soot and blood. They both look like shit, dirt and blood indistinguishable besides the fresh stuff, and bags under Wilbur’s eyes practically giving him another inventory of space. Tommy has a new cut on his cheek, unbandaged and bleeding. Tommy has a blanket around his shoulders and a thousand yard stare that looks through Nikki and out the other side. Wilbur’s eyes are empty, hollow and tired.

“You’re okay.” Nikki mumbles, walking towards them slowly. She raises her hand, brushing a stray tear from Wilbur’s cheek before pulling him into a hug. “You’re okay.”

“I’ll prepare some food for everyone.” Eret says softly. “How does pancakes sound?”

“That would be nice.” Wilbur says softly and Tommy nods, a small smile on his face. A sad one.

“I’ll throw in some chocolate chips.” Eret nods, walking out of the room.

“When did you guys arrive?” Nikki asks, pulling the two men onto some seats. They’ll move to the dining hall later.

“About five minutes ago.” Wilbur says, pulling off his beanie. He holds it in his hands, gently passing the saturated material between his hands. “We’ve been walking all night.”

“You should have messaged me, I would have brought some horses.”

“Didn’t want to wake you up.” Tommy mumbles, his voice almost as hollow as Wilbur’s eyes.

What happened to them, out there? Nikki wonders to herself, half ready to whisper to Tubbo or Fundy to ask them the question.

But she can’t ask them.

Then Schlatt will know that she’s with them.

“I wouldn’t have minded.” Nikki says, placing her hand on Tommy’s. She tried to ignore the small flinch from the teen. Months of working on his PTSD from the war, and it looks like it’s all gone again. Unless something else happened to them. “Do you guys need any health potions?”

“We can handle it.” Wilbur says immediately, before guilt flashes across his face. “Sorry, Nikki, it’s just-”

“We’re under Dream’s rule again.” Tommy spits, glaring at the floor. There’s an emotion that Nikki can deal with, can help the teen with. Anger. “We fought and died and lost everything for L’manburg and we’re back the same place we fucking started!”

“I know.” Nikki says sympathetically. “But you need to be safe, and this is the safest place for you both and-”

“You don’t understand, Nikki. We’re citizens of the fucking place again!” Tommy yells. “We fought, and we died, and it was all for nothing.” His voice cracks on the last word, tears streaming down his face. “It was for nothing. We lost.”

“Tommy-”

“Tommy, do you want the first pancake?” Eret’s voice cuts through what Nikki was about to say, and Tommy gets up, walking out of the room.

“Does he know where the kitchen or the dining hall is?” Nikki asks Wilbur softly, and the man shakes his head.

“He’ll find it. He’s a teen, he’ll just follow the scent until he gets to the food.” Wilbur laughs, though it doesn’t reach his eyes. “I failed him, didn’t I? I promised freedom and the world to him, and now he’s back where we started. I might as well goddamn lied to him.”

“You didn’t fail him.” Nikki reaches out to Wilbur, though he doesn’t look at her. His eyes, though empty, harden like stone before her eyes. “You did what you had to do to survive.”

“I promised him freedom. I promised him safety.” Wilbur glares at the ground. “This is all my fault. If I hadn't held the election none of this would have happened.”

“Do you really think Schlatt would have sat back and let you have power?” Nikki asks softly. “You know him, you remember what he’s done, what he did. You know him better than the rest of us. He wouldn’t of let you have power, let you run your country. You did the right think.”

“And now Tommy is homeless, stuck in a country that he died to escape, a country that leader killed him, and now we have to play the role of ‘good, upstanding citizens’ while our country burns.” Nikki holds back a finch at Wilbur’s words, though she can’t help but agree with him. They’re citizens of L’manburg, they shouldn’t be here. In Eret’s court. They aren’t Dreamers, they are not his citizens. L’manburgians through and through.

“If we don’t play that role we won't have a safe place to stay.” Nikki mumbles. “We need their allyship. We can’t afford to lose L’manburg.”

“We already have.”

“Only with that attitude.” Nikki jokes, and Wilbur finally cracks a smile. It’s small, but it reaches his eyes.

“I guess.” Wilbur smiles, tilting his back. “I guess we haven’t lost yet, why else would Schlatt be hunting us?”

“Besides how we are the good looking members of L’manburg?” Nikki teases, and Wilbur laughs, punching her shoulder. “We’re going to have to play the part, Wil. We have to make Eret trust us. We need his help.”

“I don’t trust him. I won’t trust him.” Wilbur says, his voice barely above a whisper.

“I don’t either. But we have protection here. We’ll need their allyship if we want to get L’manburg back.”

“Techno and Phil are coming.” Wilbur says, and Nikki feels hope spark in her chest, a small yet warm fire, dancing brightly. “We won’t need Dream, or Eret, not once they arrive.”

“Only as a back up.” Nikki smiles. “We can let Tommy flip them off when we leave. When are they arriving?”

“In a month or two.” Wilbur smiles. “Not too long, all things considered.”

“We’ll need to set up a base, and get armour ready.” Nikki says. “We could use Eret and the Dreamer’s to get the supplies for it.”

---

“Where are they?” Jschlatt yells, slamming his hands down on the table. Tubbo flinches in the corner, his eyes wide as he watches the room argue. “We can’t afford for them to start a rebellion against us.”

“Really, you shouldn’t have exiled them.” Fundy says, waving his hand. “We could have thrown them in prison or something like that, you know? Kept a close eye on them.”

“Nikki didn’t stay in prison, what makes you think that those two bastards would have?” George rolls his eyes at the fox hybrid, who just glares back to him.

“You don’t think that Nikki’s with them, do you?” Jack asks Tubbo, staring into Tubbo’s soul. His throat goes dry, feeling the room’s eyes on him.

“I think Nikki is hiding nearby.” Tubbo mumbles, trying to avoid everyone’s eyes.

“Where would you suggest that place be, Tubbo?” Schlatt asks him, his voice kind and dark, the threat not needing to be spoken for Tubbo to understand what will happen to him if he lies again.

“Eret. With Eret.” Tubbo says softly. “I think that she’s hiding with Eret.”

“They always were close, weren’t they?” Jack nods to himself. “It makes sense that she’d hide with Eret.”

“And Eret knows where Wilbur and Tommy are hiding as well, he told me so last night.” Schlatt smiles. “I think it’s time we pay the king a visit.”

“Not yet.” Tubbo blurts out before he can stop himself.

“And why not?” Schlatt glares at the teen, who tries his hardest not to cower.

“Because there’s a ball coming up, we’re all invited.” Tubbo says softly. “Better to show up invited and burn the place down than to declare war. We can always blame Wilbur or Nikki for that. Not if we all show up now.”

“Tubbo i didn’t realise that you were so good at planning.” George whistles under his breath, and the men in the room give Tubbo a nod that turns his insides to ice.

He’s just betrayed them all.

---

Tommy sits on the roof of the castle, his hair blowing in the wind as he reads through Techno’s letter for the second time that day. Below him, Wilbur and Nikki are discussing a deal with Eret so that they can get help with getting equipment for the rebellion. Tommy wasn’t invited, Wilbur saying something about him ‘not being the calmest’.

As though Tommy didn’t make most of the trade deals between L’manburg and Dream SMP when Wilbur was too mad with Dream or Eret to meet with them.

So Tommy sits on the roof, a music disk playing softly over the air. Far, he thinks, wondering where Eret got the disk. It's peaceful, at the very least, playing softly as the sun sets. The sky lights up in golds and ambers, birds flying in the distance. He wonders about Manburg, about Tubbo and Jack and Fundy. Are they alright? Are they actually working for Jschlatt, or are they going to double cross the man?

He doesn’t know. Doesn’t want to know. Does he have to know, if it means that he will lose more of his family? Knowledge is a curse.

Maybe thats the real reason that Wilbur and Nikki didn’t want him there, in that meeting. Maybe they didn’t want him to lose more hope, to lose more family and friends. Would it hurt more to find out loyalties now, or later? Would it hurt more now, to find out if Tubbo is fully with Schlatt, then to find out if Tubbo was fully with Schlatt after weeks of trusting him? What would be worse?

A bee flies idly by, trying to find its hive before dark. Tommy doesn’t know why the bee would be here, there are no gardens in Eret’s castle, no flowers to be found. Maybe he could plant some, for this bee. For any other bees nearby. That's something he can do, that’s something that won’t hurt anyone. It’s not training, but it isn’t running either.

He’ll have to check with Wilbur and Eret, and see if they approve.

---

Tubbo watches the sun set over the water, turning the ocean into a deep orange. Inside Nikki’s bakery, Schlatt, George, Fundy, Jack and Quackity drink. They took all the yeast from the bakery when Nikki left, turning it into beer. Tubbo has been put in charge of finding more, trading for it with his villagers. It could be worse, Tubbo thinks to himself, They could have banned me from baking bread like they banned Nikki from it.

Of course, Schlatt banned him from gardening, but at least he can bake. They haven’t taken that away from him. Sure, it’s his duty, and when the men leave, stumbling and drunk and angry, Tubbo will work until midnight preparing tomorrow's bread.

So Tubbo watches the sunset, longing to find Tommy. He could leave, right now. The Manburgian’s are drunk, always drunk at this hour of the night. Though normally one doesn’t drink, keeping an eye on Tubbo to make sure he doesn’t run.

He’s been caught trying to run before, on the night of the inauguration. George caught him, and he slept in the prison instead of in his bed, down with Nikki. It was nicer in the prison than in his room, with two guards outside his door to ‘protect’ him. In any case, he wouldn’t be able to run far tonight, shackles around his ankles keeping him from taking too large of a step, let alone running.

He shouldn’t have disagreed with Schlatt.

Glass breaks in the bakery, and Tubbo strains to hear anything other than the fighting from inside the building. He can almost imagine Far playing on the breeze, and a stray tear falls down his cheek. Tonight won’t be good.

Taglist:

@octosghost @firefly464 @surohsopsisofclouds @chromations @magpies-and-glitter @wwwwwelcomegays @asmoljay @ribineran @hawheckin @violet--majesty @violets-arepurple @marzycielskagwiazda

#Staying With The Traitor #SWTT:2 #wilbur soot #tommyinnit #niachu #eret #tubbolive #fundylive #jschlatt #georgenotfound #jack manifold #quackity #quakity

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writer-k-pop · 3 years

Text

The Glass Smith (l.d.n) - Waning Crescent Hotel

Please read this (W.C.Hotel) if this is the first post of this series that you see. Warnings: Swearing, Mentions of death Genre: Angst, Hotel Del Luna AU, Choose your own adventure, SVT x Fem! Reader Staff: Yong (Spirit General Manager) / Jiwoo (Human General Manager) / Soon Bok (Room Manager) / Mun Hee (Front Desk Receptionist) / Shin (Grim Reaper assigned to Waning Crescent) Word Count: Ending A - 5.3k / Ending B - 5.2k

W.C.Hotel | Seventeen Masterlist | Masterlists

"Wait for me!" Mun Hee yells after me, his footsteps echoing off of the walls.

"Walk faster." I call out behind me continuing on my purposeful walk out of the garden.

"Did, did you want me to send up your unfinished champagne to your office?" Mun Hee asks when he catches up to me.

I wave a hand, giving nearly zero thought, "Whatever."

"Is that a yes?" Mun Hee steps in front of me, stopping me from continuing forward.

I roll my eyes and remind myself to put a stopper on his growing confidence, "Send it up."

Mun Hee nods, happy that he got an answer and steps aside. As we bust into the lobby, the regular day to day sounds of the Waning Crescent Hotel fill my ears: the faint piano music playing, the dings of the elevators, and the sounds of guests milling around. I spot Jiwoo standing across the lobby from me and make a bee line for him. But in my haste, I fail to notice another guest walking in a different direction until...

"Ooomf." I grunt when I collide with another body. The guest wobbles and I reach out my hands to steady them. I don't need a guest falling in my lobby.

"Oh, are you alright?" The guest, female, asks in a very familiar voice.

I look at the guest's face and nearly choke on air.

"Ch-Chaewon?" I stutter, not believing what my eyes are seeing.

Chaewon smiles warmly at me, "(y/n)."

"Chaewon." I repeat her name, a small degree of happiness creeping into my voice. Pulling her into a hug, she sighs over my shoulder and wraps her arms around my waist. With the moment of happiness passed, I pull away realizing that she's in my hotel but I keep ahold of her hands. "Why are you here?"

Laughing, Chaewon waves her hand at me, palm where I can see. "My lives are up. Lived a solid 9 of them and been here a whole nine days." My eyes widen in surprise and Chaewon smirks. "And you failed to notice me."

I glare at Mun Hee and he slowly backs away. "I didn't even know you had checked in."

Chaewon nods, "It's understandable. Your hotel has been pretty busy while I've been here." She looks around the lobby with a love filled gaze, "It's much busier than when I was around."

"Not that much has changed, has it?" I wonder, looking around in the opposite direction.

"Actually a lot has changed." Chaewon corrects me, "Especially you."

"Me?" I scoff, letting go of her hands, "I haven't changed."

"Oh yes you have." Chaewon points a finger at me.

"Name one thing that has changed." I challenge her and rest my hands on my waist while popping a hip with sass.

"Well, for starters, your style has greatly improved." She looks me up and down with a smirk. All I can do is roll my eyes. "And you didn't let me fall over when you ran into me when you used to let guests just fall without a second thought. Thirdly, your face has the warm glow of a woman loved by 13 perfect men."

I lick my lips, contemplating how I'm going to combat this one but Yong's voice beats me to the punch.

"Chaewon. There you are." Yong walks towards us from the doorway where all departures exit. "Are you- (y/n)."

I look between Yong and Chaewon then the hurt floods through my body. "You were going to leave without seeing me?" I ask.

"Of course not." Chaewon shakes her hands towards me, "I was going to wait outside and have you come see me off. But this way, you can walk me out too."

The hurt subsides almost immediately and I immediately link my arm with hers. "After the nine lives you lived, and the one when you were with me, I will be honored to walk with you."

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Jiwoo standing with a guest but his gaze occasionally glances over.

I lean close to Chaewon's ear and whisper, "You did introduce yourself to your family line, right?"

Chaewon smiles and nods, "I did. Actually Mun Hee was the one who made that meeting happen a couple days ago."

Jiwoo respectfully bows to the guest then shuffles over to where we are still, somehow, standing.

"You're leaving already?" Jiwoo asks.

Chaewon smiles warmly at him, "What's with the 'already'? I asked to be the last departure for the night. It's more like 'finally.'"

Jiwoo chuckles lightly, "Well, if I say finally, then it might sound like I really want you to leave. But that's just simply not true."

Chaewon releases my arm and opens both of her arms for Jiwoo, "I know it's not true."

Jiwoo walks into her arms and they hug each other.

"Seeing how you carried out your duties at the hotel, I want you to know that you're doing our whole family proud." Chaewon says quietly, "I'm so proud of you." She says and emphasizes the 'I'm.'

Seeing the two together, and hearing Jiwoo sniffle, my stupid heart realizes something.

Even though I was the one she worked closest with and even though I'm the one who actually knew her, I'm not the one who should walk her to the car.

Jiwoo pulls away and takes in a breath to steady himself to say good bye. But I place a hand on his shoulders, bringing the attention to me. I turn to Chaewon and straighten my shoulders.

"Chaewon, I know you wanted to have me escort you," I say, looking at her and memorizing her face one last time, "But there's someone who deserves it more."

"(y/n)..." Jiwoo whispers my name and I turn to him.

"Walk her out. I want you too." I tell him with a nod.

"But she... she knew you." Jiwoo says in awe.

The side of my mouth twitches in a memory filled smile, "I know. But I still think you deserve to walk her out." I shrug, "But I can make it an order if that'll prove how serious I am."

Jiwoo quickly shakes his head.

Chaewon wraps me up in a tight hug, "You really have changed." She whispers in my ear, "Thank you, (y/n)."

I give her waist a small squeeze, "No, thank you, Chae."

We pull away and Chaewon takes Jiwoo's offered hand. Yong and I stand side by side as they walk away. Just before they reach the door, Chaewon turns around.

"Don't feel bad about not coming to my funeral, (y/n)." She calls out, "I know why you didn't and I'll give the Gods a good earful for it."

A smile grows on my face as I wave and then Chaewon turns back around. Jiwoo opens the door for her and she's gone.

I stare the closed door for a few moments longer while the hotel continues about its day around me.

"Dino?" I remember the reason why i was in search of Jiwoo or Yong in the first place.

"Room 112." Yong responds and we turn away from the door.

"How long?" I ask.

"Seven." Mun Hee answers from my other side.

I breathe in and out, resetting my mentality for the day. "What's on the agenda for the rest of the day?" I ask and Yong holds an open file in front of me.

"First, the chefs have asked you taste some new dishes they concocted." Yong lists off the first item. Half of my stomach twists in fear of what they made while the other half wonders what delicious tastes they've melded together.

~The Seventh Day~

I'm standing in front of Dino's glass shop but the whole world seems to have a sepia filter over it. The door is closed but the open blinds and the sign on the door say the store is open for business. In the windows, glass vases and glass sculptures sit on shelves and glisten under the sun.

In the rear of the shop, and just barely in my view, someone shuffles around. I find myself walking towards the door and just before my hand touches the door handle, I hesitate.

What if it isn't Dino? I wonder.

Before I can find the answer for myself, the door swings open and a young male, probably in high school, stands in front of me, holding the door open with a smile. He looks familiar but I can't remember his name.

"(y/n)." He greets me with my name. "Dino said you would be coming around today. He's in the back." He gestures for me to follow him inside and my body does.

Walking in, I look around the shop and take in all the delicate glass works colored with streaks, spots, and tints of all the colors of the rainbow.

"So, this is your first time here?" The employee asks me.

"Yeah, it is." I answer.

"Dino's working on a project but let me go get him for you." He says, "Feel free to look around, I'll be right back." He mentions before disappearing through a veiled doorway.

I walk through the isles, admiring every single piece and their curves and delicate parts. The shelves are filled with everything from simple vases to plump little animals to sturdy glasses made for wine and other drinks.

In the back corner of the shop, standing alone in a protected shelf, sits an intricate dragon. It's snout is raised to the sky as its stream of fire is frozen in time. It's tail wraps around a leafless tree acting as a protective barrier.

"Took me forever to get the tree right." Dino says, creeping up next to me, "And I still don't think it's 100% correct. There's not enough life in it."

I smile, "I think it's correct." I glance over the tree again, "It never had any life anyway."

"That tree wasn't the one I was trying to emulate." Dino counters before turning and walking towards the counter. "I wanna show you this."

I turn away from the tree and follow Dino, "Show me what?"

Dino smiles and reaches under the counter then brings out a black box. "These." He states and lifts the cover of the box.

He removes the tissues laid across the top to reveal two beautiful glass champagne flutes. I take in a sharp breath and gaze over the two glasses.

The base is perfectly flat. The stem encases a braid of three tinier braids. The bowl's glass smooth with the tiny braids from the stem spreading out like the branches of a tree. The entire flute is tinted with streaks of dark blue and white. It reminds me of the nights at the hotel.

"What do you think?" Dino asks, never taking his eyes off of my reaction.

"They're amazing." I answer him, glancing up in time to see his smile.

"Good, cause I made them for you." Dino says, "Since you enjoy champagne and all." He explains.

"They're for me?" I question, part of me not believing it to be true.

Dino nods quickly, "Of course." He picks up one of the glasses, "Hold it, see how it feels in your hand."

I hold out my hand and Dino sets the glass down.

But the second my hand meets the cool glass, the flute cracks and then explodes.

I startle awake and nearly roll off the couch but my hand reacts and catches me before I can fully register anything. Blinking a couple times, I look around my office.

The dark night has successfully chased away all traces of the sun. In front of me, an open champagne bottle sits next to an empty champagne flute. But it's different from the one in my dream. This one is simple glass with simple straight lines and no character. It probably only cost a mere $10 in any store.

Running my hands over my face, I begin to wonder why the glass would've shattered in my dream. Maybe it represented Dino's heart and how I completely and utterly shattered it when I left.

"I hate dreaming." I groan when the thought crosses my mind.

Picking up the boring champagne flute, I turn it over in my hand and a frown grows on my face.

"I hate all of this!" I yell and throw the champagne glass to the side without looking. I close my eyes and listen to it crash against the wall. I listen as the pieces fall to the floor and shatter some more.

Pushing my hands against my thighs, I rise to my feet and stretch. I take in a deep breath and head to my upstairs room to change out of yesterday's clothes.

2 hours later, I'm freshly showered, changed, and made up for the day. Opening my bedroom doors with flourish, I walk back down the stairs to find Jiwoo waiting for me with a couple files in his hands.

"Late morning?" He greets me when I reach the bottom step.

I shrug, "More like late night." I correct him and make my way over to my desk.

"My roommate had the same thing, though I figure for different reasons." Jiwoo says as I sit down in my chair, "These are the guests who checked in during the day." He sets down the opened file in front of me. One of the many differences between Yong and him. Yong leaves the files closed until I open them. Jiwoo opens them for me whether I want to look at them or not.

"We had 6 check in?" I look over the list quickly.

"There was a..." Jiwoo pauses, "a terrible accident." I look up and his eyes are clouded over with immense sadness.

I decide not to press the situation as I can tell from him that the whole human world must be hurting from it. And if the whole world is hurting from it, then it was a massive tragedy.

"How many departures do we have tonight?" I continue on our usual daily info session.

"Just 3." Jiwoo says after some of the sadness is erased and places another open file on my desk.

I nod and glance over the short list.

"Ah, Shin's outside the doors and he wanted to talk with you." Jiwoo remembers and points a thumb towards the closed doors.

I sigh, "Alright, send him in."

Jiwoo bows. "Then I'll leave you be."

I wave him off and he walks to the doors. Just after he steps out of my office, Shin steps in, dressed in his usual black robes.

"(y/n)." He greets me and stiffly walks to stand in front of my desk.

"Shin." I greet him in the same manner, "What did you want to talk about?"

Shin shrugs, "I was kind of hoping you would tell me."

I scrunch my face in confusion, "I don't have anything to talk to you about?" I say as more of a question.

"I was guided to come see you this morning." Shin explains.

"Guided?" I repeat his word, "Guided by who?"

Shin nods his head upwards towards the sky and I understand his answer.

I sigh. The Gods love messing with my head and my heart.

"My dream last night." I start, giving into the Gods schemes.

"Was something odd?" Shin wonders.

"It started out as a memory, but then it quite literally exploded." I explain while standing and walking to the cabinet where I keep the specific champagne flutes hidden. Rummaging around, I finally find and pull out the dusty black box.

"It exploded..." Shin repeats my words. His eyes watch me as I walk back to my desk with the box.

I open the box and peel back the tissue paper so Shin can see them. "The memory was of the day Dino gave these to me." I continue, "It was also the first day I had ever visited his store front." Shin gingerly picks one of the flutes up and examines it closely, "Dino handed me one and the moment it touched my skin, it cracked and exploded."

"This is amazing work." Shin comments, his eyes fixed on the stem. Probably wondering how Dino was able to intertwine and insert the braids so perfectly. I always have.

After a few moments, Shin returns the glass to it's cushioned box. "So it shattered."

I nod.

"And you're worried because you don't know what it means." Shin continues spewing information I already know.

"Yes, I'm worried." I stare at him, "Memories don't just change like that. Especially not mine."

"You were sleeping though." Shin points out.

I let out a puff of air, "Even in my dreams, my memories don't change."

As Shin opens his mouth to answer, a knock sounds at the door.

"(y/n)." Mun Hee sing songs through the door.

"What Mun Hee?" I call back and Shin closes his mouth, placing his hands behind his back.

The door opens and Mun Hee pokes his head in, "Oh, hey Shin." He greets the Grim Reaper with a smile before looking at me, "Yong is bringing Dino down now."

I nod and wave him away. Mun Hee silently closes the door.

"We can continue this after?" Shin suggests carefully.

"No, I'm sure I'll figure it out by the end of the day." I shake my head and stand up.

"Mmm." Shin hums in understanding and walks next to me as we exit my office.

Once the doors are closed behind us, Shin takes his leave.

"I will see you at the forest, later." He bows and walks down the hall before turning the corner and disappearing from my sight.

I chew on the inside of my lip in thought and make my way to the elevators. The entire way to my garden, the image of the champagne flute exploding in my hand replays over and over. Like the one part of a song that always gets stuck in the mind.

When I do reach the garden, the memory vanishes and is replaced with Dino inspecting every inch of the bare tree.

He lowers his gaze from a branch and meets mine with a wide smile. I return the smile and immediately cover the distance to him. Dino's arms instinctively wrap around me and he sighs contently.

"Hey." He whispers in my ear.

"Hi." I say, squeezing him tighter.

When we pull away and I pause to take in Dino's appearance. His clothing is simple enough but comfortable and looks great on him. Though when has he ever looked bad in an outfit...

He has a warm smile on his face and his eyes are full of life, or at least the memory of lives lived to the fullest.

"What?" Dino asks when I've stared a few seconds too long, "Is there something on my face?"

I shake my head, "No, no. I just, it's been a long time since I've seen you."

"Ah, so you were in awe of my good looks." Dino strikes an exaggerated model pose then raises an eyebrow at me.

Laughing, I shake my hands in a visceral answer of 'no.' Dino laughs at my reaction and returns to a normal standing position. When our laughter dies down, his gaze is again captured by the tree that looms above us.

"So the metaphorical tree actually exists." Dino guesses, following one of the branches to the trunk.

I clasp my hands behind my back, "It does."

Dino reaches out to touch the trunk and a shiver runs down my spine when his fingers meet the rough, old bark. "I always thought it was just a metaphor for yourself. It's why I was never satisfied with the way the glass tree looked. I always saw you with so much life but the glass trees I made always looked so lifeless..." He trails off and pulls his hand back to his side.

"The tree is as dead as I am." I state, "For every day it doesn't age, neither do I."

"You, my dear, have much more life than this tree would ever have in a million years." Dino compliments me and I half smile.

"I thought you created the glass tree just right." I inform him. "With just the right amount of death and the perfect sliver of life."

"You don't see what I see." Dino leans in and whispers before walking over to the bench. He lets out a breath as he lowers himself onto the bench, much like an old man.

"And what do you see?" I question and cross my arms over my chest.

Dino smirks and motions me closer with a single finger.

I take three steps closer then stop.

Dino just shakes his head and does the same 'come closer' motion.

Four more steps and I'm standing right in front of him.

"Closer." Dino says and I lower myself so my face is just in front of his.

"I see a woman, who pulls on the optimism of every situation, a woman who showed no fear even in the face of a burning furnace." Dino stares into my eyes, "I see a woman who loved every part of me." He wraps a hand around the back of my neck and collides his lips with mine, shocking me for only a second before my body responds from memory.

When we pull apart, Dino has a mischievous spark in his eyes and I just laugh as I sit next to him on the bench. Once I'm seated, I lean my head on his shoulder and he wraps an arm around my shoulders.

"Did you keep the shop?" I ask, suddenly hating the silence that surrounds us.

Dino nods, "I did. Tae Oh took over the shop when I retired but I still visited." Dino's apprentice's face flashes in my mind.

"Your kids didn't take over?" I wonder because he'd often talked about his dream to pass the shop down to his kids.

"I never had kids of my own." Dino tells me, "I never even married."

I sit up straight and look at him in disbelief. "You didn't marry?"

He nods while avoiding my eyes.

"Why not?" I ask though i'm slightly afraid of the answer.

"I just never found anyone that matched with me." Dino shrugs.

My shoulders slump as I hear the unsaid ending to the sentence bounce around my head.

'After you left.'

"After you left," Dino says, "I wondered if people were really meant to only love one person in their lifetime. Maybe that's why I never found anyone else. Maybe I was too engrossed in that thought that I couldn't see the others in front of me." Dino grabs my hand and looks over at me, "But I don't regret it."

"You don't?" I ask, trying to understand.

"What do I have to regret?" Dino argues, "I lived a full life. Tae Oh essentially was my child and I somehow became a father to him. I got to watch him grow up and have a family of his own. I didn't have anyone to come home to, but then again, I didn't exactly want anyone to come home to."

I frown knowing that he never found another love.

"But don't you worry." Dino says, booping my frown, "In my other lives, I had lots of loves. In fact, in my fifth life, I swore I was in love like 4 different times." He tries to lighten the mood and for the most part, I let it, but a small part of me is still sad for his first life.

"Tae Oh was good to you, then?" I ask, diverting the conversation.

"The best son-not-son a man could ask for." Dino says proudly, "He received awards for his glass work and was really famous. He always told me I could retire early and he'd support me but gosh, how could I?"

"You could've." I put in my two cents.

"I could've, yes, but then what would I do?" Dino questions me, "He and his wife didn't have any kids I could watch over so I'd be stuck at home watching TV like an old fart."

I laugh out loud at his simile. "Fair point, fair point."

"And besides, our works were selling like crazy and there was no way Tae Oh was going to be able to handle all of them by himself." Dino continues, "So I had to stay on."

"So caring as always." I stroke his hair with sort of teasing smile.

Dino rolls his eyes, "Whatever." He says and chuckles, "By the way, what did you do with those flutes I gave you? Did you use them?"

"I still have them." I tell him, then lie, "I bring them out from time to time."

Dino narrows his eyes at me in suspicion. "Liar."

"I do." I defend myself, "Though time to time usually means a few hundred years between uses."

"(y/n)." Dino exclaims, "They're meant to be used, not on display collecting dust."

I smile in embarrassment and Dino gasps.

"You kept them stored away?" He realizes with wide eyes.

I press my lips together, unsure how to respond when I'm pretty sure my facial expression says the answer.

Dino places a hand over his heart and feigns pain. "Ah, my heart. All my hard work and you put it away in storage for hundreds of years at a time."

I push his shoulder and he over dramatically falls over, "Stop it, they were too precious to use constantly."

"But you did use them at least once?" He asks, still toppled over but looking at me with eager eyes.

I smile, "Yes, I think I've used them maybe 10 times?"

"Were any of them special occasions?" Dino wonders and sits up properly.

"Once." I answer and then explain, "The day of your funeral, I sipped through 5 champagne bottles with them."

"My funeral." Dino repeats, "Not the special occasion I had in mind but oddly enough, I'm kind of happy that you at least had something to remind you of me on that day." He scoffs at himself.

I blow out a breath, "Can I ask a strange question?"

Dino raises his eyebrows, "You ask that like none of your questions were ever strange."

I giggle, "I'm serious, Dino."

"Okay, okay." Dino surrenders, "What's your strange question?"

I readjust my posture like a child who is about to ask her friend for the juiciest gossip on the street. "What was the strangest thing a customer asked you to make?"

"The strangest thing?" Dino thinks out loud, "Mmmm, there's a few that stand out."

"What's the first?" I push, leaning closer.

"Uh, I think it was the puffer fish." Dino says in thought and explains the whole situation because of my nagging questions.

After the strange creations he was asked to create, we dive into Dino's life with Tae Oh and his family. Then Dino filled the rest of the fleeting hours with stories that he kept in his memory for me. The places he visited, the people he met through his work, the fascination in people's eyes when they saw his work- that was his favorite part.

The sun lowers itself into its western bed and I shiver as the cold night caresses my skin.

"You ever wondered where the sun leads?" Dino asks a pensive look on his face.

"What do you mean?" I ask, looking at him.

Dino leans back, sliding his hands along his thighs, "Like if you were to follow the sun, where it would lead and what you would find."

"You would find water and then land and then more land." I deadpan and he chuckles at my seriousness.

"I'm asking a serious metaphorical question here, (y/n)." Dino pouts and I smirk.

"Okay, okay." I give in to his puppy eyes, "I have wondered but I never tried. The moon is my domain and that's the one I'd follow."

"Do you think I'll be chasing the sun?" Dino asks glancing out the western windows.

"Depends." I say, "Are you the night chasing the sun or are you the sun chasing the night?"

Dino looks at me in disbelief, "Now who's the one talking in riddles." He chuckles but then sighs in thought, "If you put it that way, I think I'd be the sun chasing the night but only if you were the moon in the night."

I push him away and stand up. "Alright Mr. Cheesy." I hold out both of my hands, "Your journey towards the sun is awaiting you."

Dino holds a hand over his mouth and pretends to baby barf while standing up. I roll my eyes at his tactics but he just laughs.

"You started this." I point a finger at him and begin to walk away.

"Awww. (y/n)." He drags out my name and wraps his arms around my shoulders from behind. "You're no fun."

"I am too." I defend myself.

Dino smooshes a kiss against my cheek, "You are."

We walk out of the garden with Dino hanging off of my shoulders and our steps teeter and totter from left to right. The hotel is silent with most guests still sleeping and/or adjusting to greeting their past lives and my staff are probably just waking up to begin their duties around the hotel.

"I like this quiet." Dino whispers as we reach the departure door.

"It is nice, isn't it?" I agree and open the door. "Less aggressive on your ears than the raging furnace."

"Hey, don't diss Bertha like that." Dino says with serious eyes.

I burst out laughing and pull the door closed behind us. "I totally forgot you named your furnace."

"How could you forget Bertha?" Dino gasps.

I giggle and grab his hand tightly, "Well, I won't forget now."

"You better not." Dino says and swings our hands back and forth. "You'll come there too, right? One day?" He asks, looking at the idling car Shin is standing next to.

"One day." I nod, "I don't know how soon but one day soon I'll get there."

"I'll wait for you then." Dino whispers.

"There will be others before I get there and you might have to share." I inform him as we slow to a stop a few feet away from where Shin has the car door open.

"Then I'll fight them all and win you over." Dino says defiantly.

An airy chuckle bounces in my chest, "Don't hurt yourself in the process."

Dino sighs happily and there's a twinkle in his eyes, "I love you, (y/n)." He says and presses a kiss to my forehead.

"I love you too." I tell him and close my eyes to memorize the feeling of his lips against my skin.

Dino pulls away, squeezes my hand briefly, and then lets go of it. I watch silently as he greets Shin with a polite nod before sliding into the car without a look back. The sure slam of the car door closing pounds against my heart like a sledge hammer.

Every inch the car drives away, my heart tears apart further and further. When the car finally disappears into the forest fog, my knees give out and I fall to the ground with my clutching my chest. A few tears manage to escape. I watch as one drops into the dirt and disappears.

And back in the hotel, in my garden, a white chrysanthemum does the same.

It takes a little bit of time but eventually the ache in my chest subsides enough for me to rise back up. With a deep breath, I pull my hair behind my shoulders and turn away from the forest. I face the hotel and prepare to face the night.

Return to the Navigation Page (Waning Crescent Hotel) to choose the next guest.

"You call yourself the moon and yet you shiver in the cold." Dino notices me shiver against the night air.

I chuckle, "I'm not immune to everything."

"Let's hope that the other side is a lot warmer than here." Dino says and stands up with dramatic flourish.

I follow suit and stand nearly chest to chest. "Shall we see if that's true or not?"

Dino grabs my hands and smiles widely, "Hell yes."

As we walk out of the garden, Dino does a couple skips in happiness and while I do feel a great amount of happiness that I get to leave with him, there is a seed of sadness tucked away in the shadows.

We walk hand in hand to the lobby where Yong, Mun Hee, Soon Bok, and Jiwoo stand solemnly.

"So this is it?" Mun Hee asks with tears in his eyes. "This is the day you leave us?"

I wrap him up in a hug, only a tiny bit annoyed that he's being so sappy. "Maybe I'll get punished again and be back here by the end of the year." I try to joke but Mun Hee abruptly pushes back from me.

"Don't you dare say that. You better not return here." He says angrily through his tears.

I chuckle, "I won't come back. I promise."

Turning to Soon Bok, I thank her for her service and her amazing work. Something I never did and should've done more.

Next onto Jiwoo. I also thank him for his and his entire family's service then I unclip the bracelet that has held him to this place.

"When you leave today, you won't be able to find this place again." I inform him, "I hope that you'll be able to go and live your life happily."

Jiwoo nods, "Thank you for letting me work with you. I won't ever forget you."

I smile sadly, "You will. But thank you."

Finally I reach Yong who is sniffling and trying so very hard not cry.

"You'd think after all these years of waiting that I'd be prepared for this day." She says through sniffles.

"Thank you, Yong." I rests my hands on her shoulders, "For everything. Thank you."

With lips pursed together, she leans forward and wraps me in an unexpected hug. But I soon wrap my arms around her and squeeze her tightly.

We pull apart after a couple seconds and I wipe the few tears that have escaped from her eyes.

"Keep this hotel running beautifully." I tell her before Dino grabs my hand again.

With final waves of goodbye, Dino and I walk out to the foggy forest that will take us to our resting place.

At the edge of the forest, Shin stands next to an idling car, a somber look on his face.

"(y/n)." He says when we reach him, "It has been an honor working with you. I wish you both a peaceful rest." Shin bows his head and I pat his arm.

"The honor was mine." I tell him with a smile. Now the tears start to line my eyes as the realization fully sets in.

I'm free. I served my years of punishment and now I'm free to let my soul rest.

I turn back towards the hotel and look up to the top where the rooftop patio is outlined with bright string lights. Then to the mid floors where random room lights are turned on, some guests staying in while others opting to experience the hotel's many services. Then to grand base where guests would be milling around, waiting their turns to leave this world.

"(y/n)?" Dino softly asks pulling my attention to where he sits just inside the car, "Are you ready?"

I take one last quick look at the hotel before turning away from it. "Yeah, I'm ready. Let's go."

I lower myself into the car and Shin securely closes the door after I am completely inside. As the car begins to drive forward, Dino securely grabs my hand and I let his warmth guide me towards our final destination.

In the garden, the final chrysanthemum withers and dies so that no more stand at the base of the bare tree.

#kpop #kpop imagine #seventeen #seventeen imagine #seventeen dino #seventeen dino imagine #dino imagine #dino #seventeen chan #seventeen chan imagine #chan imagine #lee chan imagine #lee chan #chan #writer-k-pop #waning crescent hotel

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crackcrocs · 3 years

Text

DEATH WILL ONLY BE THE BEGINNING #3

3. Transformation Central

the entities of my personalities would like to come together in one voice that speaks through me, we or I call this collection of words from the mustiest corners of my brain to this note page to voice something that might come close to what I feel underneath the skin I wear. In all my unorganised words- I might even go as far as to call this a poem, titled:

‘TRANSFORMATION CENTRAL’

sub characters in my head would appreciate if this could be visualised & understood through as deep a lens as humanly possible. even I confuse myself so if you can decode or relate to any of this, wonderful. If not, I’m locked in my own mind, swallowed the keys to my soul.

SIMILARITIES & INTERCONNECTEDNESS BETWEEN HUMAN & PLANT CONSCIOUSNESS EXIST! if you look closely at my nose freckles you’ll see the resemblance of the constellations above. if you look at the human veins & the layout of a tree, this is further proof.

{VISUALS THROUGH A SEPIA WINDOW STARING @ THE AUTUMN LEAFS; IMAGINING THE SEEDS UNDERNEATH, THROUGH NUMB ROOT VESSELS THAT PERMEATE THROUGH EVERY MEMBRANE OF MY EXTERNAL TO INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT}

~FEATURING THE VICIOUS CYCLE OF DEPRESSION & PERFECTIONISM.

here goes:

What is this part of my mind ?

If you want; delve inside-

I may look sweet like Alice,

but underneath it all

I deteste looking in the mirror

-cos I see the mad hatter.

my inner child needs a platter-

full of care not distortion & abuse pls.

less fibbin would’ve been a breeze.

now following the dead fish in the stream!

HOW on EARTH do I fit with the cod & the Haddock?

I’m the rainbow fish- beat & battered.

dim my own light cos I’m too afraid to shine.

alone.

thieves tried to steal my shiny scales.

I sat and watched them grow.

In the sea realm they were mean gargantuan selfish whales, with poisonous shark fangs & alligator tails. scorpion hands. (gremlins)

and still they make me feel like the alien-

I cant take it.

Make it make sense ?

I can’t.

controller in my hand-

Off balance stance.

anxiously I move round like a wobbly jelly.

where’s the button to balance my chi & shut out the ego ?

the teLLIE telling lies to our vision!

change the channel aura terracotta orange- daily dosage of vitamin D & C.

catch me sun gazing by the sea

head buzzin like a bee.

speaking from a dusty box

stuck on top of a forbidden shelf

cos I dunno how else.

I’m tryna delve deep but forgot how to dive

How can i visualise? scenery foggy-

the establishment man with the glue gun got me xD

inner monk burning but at peace

Cos I refuse to believe

If the only way is the American dream

Interconnected; like the frog in science -let’s dissect it!

down to every floating atom spirit neighbouring your door

subcategories & divisions, it’s more!

than the rich and the poor -prism that’s been built

do we all feel like a performance monkey on stilts?

will my data be extracted & used to mould a robots personality some day?

well obviously not.

does the price of our lives all amount down to slave ways?

LABOUR YAY!

but morals & values it seems we’ve forgot.

sO If i don’t speak its cos I’m lost.

or maybe i’m enlightened-

Standing at the edge of the porch;

watching TRYING to understand how the flowers grow.

questioning eVERYTHING man made!

I’ve stepped out of the perfect picture frame

I can see the coal pollute the sky

I need to hop on the train-

but I’m comfortable

Sunset to sunrise statue standing still.

what’s the ingredients to life’s yucky pie?

I’ve exceeded mental lotteries.

Sanity n universal peace would be a trophy.

TIL then I’ll be crafting & shaping a solid pottery reality,

with a few pence, gum, and a bandana of belongings tied to stick.

thinking one day I’ll be laying the bricks

& building a kingdom of bliss.

guess for now I’ll use the intricate delicate materials in my tool box- that’s all I’ve got.

might have a long way- maybe worth a shot.

I observe, cruisin in the sky.

dunno why..

I jus look @ the hills.

Only time & history reveals.

no thanks mr men-

I don’t want your prescription pills.

there’s enough propaganda as it is.

I won’t jump on the merry go round-

til my core trusts & envisions we’ll actually feel safe!

I don’t want to take part in this faux fur, sweet nothings & a jack in a box punching blur, so called future.

oh and genuinely thanks quarantine-for once again, I can hear bird sounds!

guess this is me tryna speak out loud!!!...

it’s not thrilling

system time killing everything-

mother nature’s oxygen

everything is nauseating

clock ticking, I better start creating.

they should write a book on how to be free when the system set us up to believe that we’re tied to the cut down trees that gives them a currency of greed that they breed.

If blindfolded, I don’t wanna eat what they feed.

Whilst they profit of us -tell us smile and the bandits don’t wanna see us happy.

they’re too busy robbing all our hoods.

In exchange for the silence, they’ve granted us with a 21’st century fashion garment of a slave muzzle! labelled conform.

More delusion to add to the already desensitised norm.

zootonic diseases, welcome covid 19 to your plastic kiddy tea party!- apologies for questioning your motive!

Been handed too many hot plates with a post it note saying HOLD THIS.

we’ll be okay just hush.

Same Shan message told to every generational seed.

If we don’t TRY overpower-

we’ll never succeed!

it’s getting even more scary.

Artificial intelligence.

Societal negligence..

my canvas isn’t clear-dunno am I schizo ?

finger painting, cos it makes more sense.

struggling to blend.

borderline conspiracist pretending to be fine;

moving the goal post, hovering above the race line.

who made the chalk? who set the lanes?

I wanna know it all, maybe¿ far past insane.

I can fit all I need in the palm of my hand,

Maybe even less! cut a finger off not sure it’ll even add stress.

hi from personality Peter, even sober- always away with the fairies.

Pass the pixie dust, I’m in a rush

Found shelter in the comfort of pan physicists timer, no not the one on your phone!

Ring ring, skeptical! is it my demon or my mommy on the phone?

I’m stuck in the airspace of an infinite glass filled with beach particles trying to form myself standing up still attempting not to slip through the hands of my very own discovery.

time is running out & ill go when I go.

I’m sitting inside the fly trap -

stardust, chakras can you feel the sensation colors like a starburst.

deep emotion is a curse.

still entrapped in the sand dune of nothingness-

flipping a domino monopoly of solidified thoughts as I sway with the wind.

I’m the trapped sandbox in the playground & the slipping sand in my own hands.

Inhale chronic but I wanna enter the quiet realm of white noise

-color of a wife beater vest, calmer than the ease in ignorance of a red neck.

sadomasochistic, messes.

but oblivion, seems like less stress.

Unfortunately I can see, with all eyes

empathetic paralysis, gets me vexed.

Punching truth into the core of your chest!

It’s not funny, neither is the one on the receiving end..

My limbs are numb

& im done playing octopus alchemy.

I want minimalism & life can be simple,

Evil entities have made it hard.

Maybe I’ve got stars above my head like an old cartoon character.

But I can’t make it make sense, are they out to get me. worse all of us? Or have I bottled myself tryna re mesh the broken shards,

I feel glued to the floor cos there’s a pretty price to pay if you want more.

I see life through a different lense, maybe born downside up, Benjamin button I came out the back door-

Outside looking in, digesting confusion.

Is to be a product of environment a sin?

rummage through my messy brain.

personalities sardine packed in this tin

I’m the wizard of my mania

Scaring & attracting the black crows-

they’re my friends.

Sometimes still a cowardly lion

Roaring pain & true riddles at the wrenching wicked witch posse of the west.

will my voice ever be loud enough to shed light wit my words and grate the sweet zest

In to the cake i’m baking?

Probably not.

Got more thoughts than the autumn leaves collected by the garden rake. alone.

gathering & storing the pains of yesterday.

sometimes I stay in line

Other times in my head Im on my hands juggling out of time.

but I really don’t mind if I lose or win.

we all have a pace

I jus don’t want the 1% to win the race.

It’s unfair!

Humanity does anyone care ??

Half lady

half fairy

Good MOOrning-

from my anagrams.

no I’m not a cow.

twister fidget spinner brain in the flesh-

form of expression this time around lyrics.

feel I’m jus a silly rubix

& still mourning

I don’t like dairy

pass the oat milk.

Are you aware the industry are sabotaging our diets?

we want peace!

the powerful elite-

perceive & deceive

the scene they want us to be.

chuck the narcissistic psychopathic pie back in our face-

every time we almost found & addressed the Programme & Control man in the maze.

evil & extroverted- he said that the anarchists have to be the cause of riots.

working isn’t class. I said let’s switch roles- he said pass.

It’s piss! Who’s got the bomb & the guns?

Who got the land? off wit OUR heads 4 fun!

it’s pure scary.

Pharmaceutics handshake.

with the cooked up suppliers, also crooked wack liars.

I’d rather shot a gallon of bloody blubbery infused slaughter house milk

If it meant we didn’t use cocoons for silk.

why not add a drizzle of bleach to the concoction & maybe that’s a reach.

every time I guzzle fakeness, it taste peak.

I want real fruit, what next-

a seedless peach ???

what’s the difference between a weirdo & a freak?

layers & levels to the shit.

Magnifying tapping the window of society, I’ll be puffing green til I get to the land of Oz.

sponge soaked soaking up emotions

Suffocated by deduction of care in life

feel entrapped in this paradigm

what am I thinking ?

got the verbs & a cuppa tea

It’s mixed with torment & desire to be free.

I’d rather be awake than asleep

When I get too comfy I feel weak

Demons they reap

underneath

rip the seems as I bleed

Concrete

Solid

Emotions

Is all you’re getting

It’s all sad scenes in the imagery I’m setting

people need care we seem to be forgetting

why are we in debt wit

a posse of clowns

pay the price so we can get a frown

here’s some seratonin

quit ya moaning

life is all sound

aw yeh¿ if you’re not an over thinker!

product of environment- Sirius flickers

theyve done a ritual like it’s Wicca

now here’s your gold sticker..

for managing to co operate.

In this world fuelled off of evil n hate

waking ups a bloody disgrace

I am not amazed.

Man I love my fam n my friends

Just hate this part of my brain that feels the need to play pretend

sometimes I feel insane

but I’m calm

need to escape so I don’t do harm

Gold lioness in the sky by the sea

with puff the magic dragon

fire out my mouth, fuel helps me breathe

I will shine bright

Promise imma be alright

even tho I’m not sure why

I function like this

I wanna be myself

It’s just hard to find the comfortability

To feel happy and pretty

Lay me down on a bed of roses

Ring around sing about overdose emotions

Sorry dunno how to communicate

Heads in a constant debate

Should I go or should I stay

My head clashes

Burnin the next ciggy as my thoughts become ashes.

#LCZABIBU #deathwillonlybethebeginning

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merakilyy · 4 years

Text

Dire Straits

19. One person stopping a kiss to ask “Do you want to do this?”, only to have the other person answer with a deeper, more passionate kiss.

Hello there! I got a bit excited and this ended up 1700 words. Whoops. But here you go!

It says a lot about how dire Wei Wuxian’s situation is when he is going to Jiang Cheng for relationship advice. In which Wei Wuxian wants a kiss, Lan Wangji is happy to indulge, and Jiang Cheng needs more coffee.

Tags: Modern au, Wwx learns emotions, JC is traumatized by Wangxian, accidental third wheel JC

Send me a kiss prompt~~

~~~

“Jiang Cheng!” Wei Wuxian wails as he dramatically throws himself into Jiang Cheng’s lap.

He wasn’t aiming for Jiang Cheng’s lap. Wei Wuxian had intended to throw himself onto their stained, tacky floral couch to lament his sorrows. Jiang Cheng just happened to be in the way.

“Get off!” Jiang Cheng snaps, jabbing his elbow into Wei Wuxian’s back without care. “You’re about to owe me a month’s worth of coffee!”

“Jiang Cheng,” Wei Wuxian whines again, burrowing his face into the armrest of their ratty old couch and barely avoiding a mysterious brown stain of dubious origin that had always been there.

(Nie Huaisang thinks the stain is fermented semen leftover from an ill-fated rendezvous between a 70s TV starlet and her married manager. Wen Ning says it’s probably just spilled soy sauce that someone had waited too long to clean up. Mianmian is convinced that Wei Wuxian spilled his ink pot on the cough and is too embarrassed to admit it.

Wen Qing simply threatens to have the couch declared a biohazard to be chemically exterminated and permanently expunged.)

Their couch is probably older than both of them combined, dated by its blindingly ugly floral print that saw its last usage in the 70s. They had picked it up beside a literal dumpster when they had been moving into their apartment, thinking it would be a temporary fix until they got around to buying a proper couch.

That had been before they began their first year of university and now, three and a half years later, they still have not replaced the couch.

Despite the potential health and safety violations, the couch has served them well.

“Wei Wuxian! I was this close! Only the last turn was left!” Jiang Cheng roars, throwing his controller on the low coffee table and shoving Wei Wuxian off his lap.

Landing with a loud thump on the ground, Wei Wuxian turns so he is lying on his stomach, limbs sprawled out all over their cheap laminate flooring.

The floor is long overdue for some thorough sweeping, but Wei Wuxian is preoccupied with his life falling apart.

“Jiang Cheng, how can you care about Rainbow Road at a time like this!? My life is over!” Wei Wuxian continues wailing, voice muffled by the floral cushion Jiang Cheng had ripped off the couch and was doing his best to suffocate Wei Wuxian with.

“Good!” Jiang Cheng moves so he is sitting cross-legged on Wei Wuxian’s back. “Because I’ll be the one ending it! Do you know how close I was to winning our bet!? One turn! I had one turn left on Rainbow Road and then you sabotaged me!”

“But it’s an emergency! Lan Zhan still hasn’t kissed me,” Wei Wuxian says, cheeks puffed out in a petulant pout that Jiang Cheng wanted to smack off his face.

“So you kiss him!” Jiang Cheng snaps from his vantage point on Wei Wuxian’s back. It was so very tempting, to simply reach over and smack some sense into Wei Wuxian, but they had promised Jiang Yanli that they would behave.

“I can’t do that! What if Lan Zhan doesn’t like me enough to kiss me?”

Deadpan, Jiang Cheng says flatly, “You’ve been together for five months.”

Rolling over and dislodging Jiang Cheng from his back and the cushion from his face, Wei Wuxian looks up from where he is still sprawled on the ground but now from his back. “Does it count if I didn’t know the first two weeks were supposed to be dates?”

“Literally everyone knew you were dating. Most people think you’ve been dating for years. Everyone thought Nie Huaisang’s party last month was going to be your engagement party.”

“What? Why?”

“You’ve spent the last three years introducing Lan Wangji to everyone as your boyfriend.”

“As a joke!”

Growling, Jiang Cheng can’t hold back the punch he lands on Wei Wuxian’s shoulder. Ignoring the yelps of pain, Jiang Cheng says, “And you do realize that Lan Wangji let you introduce him to literally everyone as your boyfriend for three. Whole. Years!?”

(There is also the way Lan Wangji looks at Wei Wuxian, as if Wei Wuxian hung the sun in the sky and everyone else only exists in the periphery of Wei Wuxian’s brightness. But Jiang Cheng isn’t about to wax poetic about how his brother’s boyfriend looks at his brother.)

“Hmm,” Wei Wuxian pauses thoughtfully, brow furrowing in thought. The hand that had been rubbing his shoulder where Jiang Cheng punched him stills. “I guess that’s true…”

Before Jiang Cheng can celebrate having smoothed out his idiot brother’s relationship woes, Wei Wuxian opens his mouth again. “But Lan Zhan still hasn’t kissed me.”

“He literally kissed you this morning,” Jiang Cheng says, rubbing his temples. He knows because Jiang Cheng saw them this morning, as he does every morning, when Lan Wangji stops by their apartment to walk Wei Wuxian to class and greets him with a forehead kiss.

At this rate, he is going to have an aneurysm at the ripe old age of 22 and it will be all Wei Wuxian’s fault.

“But he hasn’t kissed my lips yet! Jiang Cheng, I still haven’t had my first kiss!”

“How are you this stupid.” The words form a question but Jiang Cheng says it as a statement. “If you want to kiss Lan Wangji so badly, just go kiss him first.”

Pushing himself off the ground in a seated position, Wei Wuxian peruses Jiang Cheng’s words.

“Great. Problem solved,” Jiang Cheng sighs a lot more aggressively than necessary. “So you owe me coffee.”

“I do not! The deal was only if you win Rainbow Road without falling off. And you fell off,” Wei Wuxian adds, as if he is not the cause of Jiang Cheng’s toad cart running off the track in the first place.

Jiang Cheng reaches out to throttle Wei Wuxian with his own bare hands, but Wei Wuxian dances off into his bedroom and locks the door behind him before Jiang Cheng can do anything.

“I’m very busy, Jiang Cheng! I have a boyfriend to seduce!” Wei Wuxian’s voice rings out from behind his bedroom door.

If Wei Wuxian had been someone reasonable, Jiang Cheng may have yelled something about how a kiss on the lips is not even close to a seduction.

Instead, Jiang Cheng simply throws another cushion at Wei Wuxian’s locked door.

~~~

That evening, five minutes before 7, a crisp knock comes from their door.

“Coming, Lan Zhan! I’m here!” Wei Wuxian yells, stumbling out of his room and bumping into no less than three pieces of furniture before making it to the door.

From his vantage point on their couch, Jiang Cheng watches as his brother rips open the door. Both Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji wince at the consequent rattling as the door rebounds off the wall, but Wei Wuxian is unperturbed.

With his single track mind, Wei Wuxian throws his arms around Lan Wangji and is already bringing his boyfriend down the precious few centimetres so that their lips can meet.

As Wei Wuxian is dragging Lan Wangji down, Jiang Cheng watches as Lan Wangji catches up to what is happening and wraps his arms around We Wuxian’s waist and pulls him in close. With Lan Wangji’s hands on his hips, Wei Wuxian’s waist is dwarfed by Lan Wangji’s long fingers.

At the last minute, Wei Wuxian seems to lose his bluster and suddenly slows down. Instead of the brazenly inappropriate make out session Jiang Cheng was prepared to interrupt, Wei Wuxian’s trajectory slows until all he does is leave a brief peck against Lan Wangji’s mouth.

Their lips just barely brush against one another.

A shame, because Jiang Cheng has already placed an entire bowl of loquats in his lap, ready for interrupting annoying brothers and shameless boyfriends.

Since there is nothing to interrupt, Jiang Cheng stares at the loquat in his hand before bringing it to his mouth.

Taking a generous bite from his loquat, Jiang Cheng watches Wei Wuxian blush, already flustered even though that display barely even counts as a kiss.

“Hi,” Wei Wuxian whispers, a shy smile on his lips.

“Hello, Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji returns. One of his hands leaves Wei Wuxian’s waist to brush back a stray lock of hair and settles on his cheek. The corner of his mouth is curved up in what even Jiang Cheng can recognize is a smile.

“I missed you,” Wei Wuxian says softly, just barely above a whisper.

Their apartment is tiny and Jiang Cheng can hear every word perfectly clearly. Still, he resists the urge to point out that Wei Wuxian literally saw Lan Wangji a few hours ago when Lan Wangji walked him home.

“Is that why you are so enthusiastic?” Lan Wangji responds just as softly. His words lead Wei Wuxian’s cheeks to flush.

“Lan Zhan is so mean,” Wei Wuxian pouts, “teasing me so ruthlessly.”

The moment is so tender that Jiang Cheng physically cannot bring himself to interrupt it. His limbs are frozen, eyes fixed on the scene before him.

“Would Wei Ying like me to fix it?” Lan Wangji’s grip on Wei Wuxian’s waist tightens as he strokes Wei Wuxian’s cheek.

With wide eyes, Wei Wuxian asks, “Do you want to do this?”

Instead of speaking, Lan Wangji simply dips his head again and touches his lips to Wei Wuxian’s. Unlike their first, chaste peck that just barely meets the standards of a kiss, this kiss has clear intentions as their mouths move together and any residual shyness either of them may have had is long forgotten.

As soon as he sees a flash of Lan Wangji’s tongue brushing against Wei Wuxian’s lower lip, Jiang Cheng’s limbs all unfreeze. Throwing his half eaten loquat in Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji’s general direction, Jiang Cheng jumps off the couch and flees into his room before he sees Lan Wangji defile Wei Wuxian any more than he already has.

He doesn’t bother to find out where his half eaten loquat lands.

Nothing matters so long as he never has to see Lan Wangji’s tongue again.

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #wangxian #lan wangji #wei wuxian #(the loquat hits the wall behind wwx)#(no one notices)#(poor Jiang Cheng is the one who has to clean it up)#my writing

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unicyclehippo · 4 years

Note

If you're still taking prompts, then... verklempt with a touch of marcid, as a found family comfort fic for poor Beau after that last episode (she needs it).

verklempt - completely and utterly overcome with emotion // marcid - incredibly exhausted

Caleb

The woman who walks out of that house is not his Beauregard. If not for his familiarity with transmutation, he might suspect that someone else had been put in her place; the imposter has copied her flawlessly—wears her face, her skin—but she does not know how to be their Beauregard.

Their Beauregard has eyes like needles, sharp and shining, that pin people open to examine their insides, cobalt eyes. These blank eyes, these clouded-over eyes, are wrong.

Their Beauregard moves like a cat. Not like Frumpkin, whose form sometimes shifts and moves to fit the world—he is real and unreal and his smoking steps reflect it. Beauregard moves like one of the great striped cats, the kings of the southern forests; Caleb had seen one, once, in his days at the Academy and it is the only way he knows how to conceptualise of Beauregard’s distinctive physicality. She is forceful and graceful all at once; she slinks and steps and climbs with power in her movements. There is a confidence to her that is all physical—all of her power, all of her presence, contained. Concrete. The imposter cannot begin to understand this. Her hands are wrong. They hang heavy at her sides like an inept simulacrum, like gloves filled with some unsuitable material— with ice, with lead. They lurch in pendulum swings from the shoulders, out of time. She does not stride or strut. She stumbles over a hunk of raised rock. When she braces against Caleb, who steps quickly to her side, her fingers claw at the proffered arm so she doesn’t meet mud.

Her skin is cold and wet from the misting downpour.

Enough, Caleb thinks. Tugs her to stop, halt.

She doesn’t argue with him and it’s all wrong, wrong, wrong.

Blue eyes drift to his face, unseeing, glazed. He sees the faintest stir behind them of recognition and she looks down to their joined hands.

‘Your hands are cold,’ he says softly.

There is no hiding that they have stopped from the watchful others, but he doesn’t have to let them hear. Beau is a private person and they have learned more of her history in the last two days, last hour, than ever; he will not let anyone take more from her, not even the knowledge that her hands are cold.

‘No,’ she denies. ‘’m all—hot.’ Rubs her other hand over the back of her neck as she has been doing all day. The skin is red, raw with scratching, but from what he can see it is hot from friction alone.

He makes a sound of disagreement. Pulls his gloves from the pocket of his coat and works the first onto the hand he still holds. It is hard because she is not being helpful, like pulling a glove onto a statue, but finally it is more or less on and he rubs the hand between both of his own in that rough way that calls heat back into extremities.

She shivers. Blinks, surprised by the way another shiver shakes through her.

He coaxes her second hand into the other glove. ‘There. Wunderbar.’

Beau curls her fingers into fists, slightly cushioned by the gloves that are only a little threadbare. ‘You don’t need ‘em?’ she asks, the thought making her reach off and fiddle with the cuffs.

Caleb lays his hands over hers. Squeezes. ‘Nein, it is fine, I can summon flames. Keep them.’

He cannot help but wonder—as she struggles past the exhaustion to think, to figure if he needs them more, eyes narrowing into an approximation of shrewd, prying—how many things Beau has been given. A slap across the face, is the first he knows of. A jade necklace with no apparent defences, supposedly to keep her safe. Anything else? Fire boils in his belly, threatens to burn through his veins, his entire self—threatens to send the rain that hits him steaming, hissing away from his too-warm skin—as her tear-stained cheeks crinkle into a very small smile.

‘Thanks, Caleb.’

He lets his hand settle on her shoulder when they set out again, fond, letting her feel the weight of his presence at her side.

Nott

She waits until they’ve purchased beds for the night in the inn, waits until Beau and Jester have gone upstairs to their room, before she follows. Waits until Beau has excused herself, stepped into the washroom, before letting herself in and setting the little jade rabbit on Beau’s bedside.

‘You steal that?’

Nott screams and spins, crossbow drawn. Beau doesn’t even flinch; her eyes are focused on the statuette, over Nott’s shoulder.

‘Beau! Steal? Little old me?’ she hedges awkwardly until she realises she isn’t seeing upset on Beau’s face, or annoyance. Strange, given that is Beau’s go-to expression, but... ‘Ah—yes. I didn’t like the way he spoke to you, so,’ Nott flutters her fingers in a There you go sort of motion. Her eyes narrow, gleaming with interest at the way Beau’s expression shifts.

‘He’s—complicated,’ she says finally.

Nott isn’t sure if what she has, what this goblin body has, are hackles, but if they were they’d be raised by Beau’s tone: quiet, borderline defeated. Worse—understanding.

‘He’s an asshole.’

Beau smiles crookedly. ‘So am I. So was I.’

‘You were a kid,’ Nott snarls. Holds her hands up in surrender when Beau’s eyes snap sideways, staring at her finally instead of that damn statuette. ‘Sorry, sorry, not my place, sorry.’

‘No. It’s not.’

‘Right. Well.’ Nott whistles faintly through her crooked teeth.

‘I nearly broke that,’ Beau tells her, eyes sliding back to the statue. ‘When I was - I dunno. Ten? Ten, I think. I was running in the house and slipped. Slammed into the table,’ she says, and doesn’t seem to notice the way her hand lifts to rub at the long-healed scar above her eyebrow. ‘It fell off. Hit the carpet. There’s - ah - a little chip missing on the back,’ she tells Nott, who doesn’t bother checking. The corner of Beau’s lips twitch up into an expression Nott wouldn’t in a hundred years call a smile. ‘He picked that up first.’

‘Beau...’ The girl sighs. Nott puts her crossbow away. She hadn’t realised it was still out, the weight so comforting in her hands. Now they’re empty, they itch with the need to take something, work with something. She threads her long, bad fingers together. ‘Thank you for coming here. I know you did it for me and—thank you.’

Beau jerks her head in a nod. Nott has nothing more to say, knows it isn’t the right time to mention how much she thinks Beau’s dad is a dickhead, knows very little of what she says will be taken seriously by Beau. So instead, she says to her friend,

‘It sounded cool. Your plan for the wine. I’m sorry he didn’t listen to you.’ Nott eases forward, toward Beau standing interposed between the bed and the door. She stops beside her, pats the girl fondly on the hip. Leaves her hand there as she looks up into Beau’s suddenly blank face. ‘For what it’s worth, I’m glad you’re with us.’

‘Okay,’ Beau rasps, not meeting her eyes.

Nott pats her side again. ‘Sleep well, Beau. You need your rest if we’re off to fuck up a hag in the morning.’

Fjord and Yasha

‘At least we know now,’ he says low to Yasha as they follow Beau out from the inn. ‘If we ever want her to be less sneaky, just...’

‘Confront her with her past?’

‘Yeah.’ Fjord grimaces. ‘Not really funny, huh?’

Yasha eyes the slow figure ahead of them, her meandering path. She would think Beau were drunk, if she hadn’t been watching her carefully since they left that place. A half cup of wine would have no effect like this on the well-practised monk.

‘No.’

The pair follow Beau through the mud-slopped streets. For a short while, she stands at the base of the switch-back roads up to the Rainbow Vineyards and Yasha is prepared to return to the inn and fetch everyone, in case Beau has it in her mind to revisit the house—what they would do, she isn’t sure. Stop her? Perhaps. Help her? Definitely. But Beau doesn’t head up; she turns away and wanders back up the path. Fjord and Yasha step aside to get out of her way and she walks right past them, unseeing.

‘Still raining,’ Fjord says to Yasha.

Her chest tightens around mixed pain and love. For Beau, who is hurting. And for Fjord, who will muster a bad lie to protect his best friend.

‘Ah. Yes,’ she agrees, lying too. ‘I think I feel it.’ She holds her hand out, palm up to the sky. Wipes imaginary droplets off against her cloak.

They follow Beau to the other end of the town, to the southern gates. She walks out of them, staggers to a stop by a low cliff where she sits. Throws her legs over the edge and grasps at small rocks, tosses them down the embankment into the burning pools there.

Fjord sits to one side of her.

Yasha sits on the other.

Neither of them speak, until eventually Beau swears. Scrubs at her cheeks.

‘Fuck—when—hey guys,’ she says, voice thick. She reworks it into something sharper. ‘Are you following me?’

Yasha looks to Fjord over her head, nervous. Perhaps she shouldn’t be here, she has caused enough hurt,

‘A-yup,’ Fjord tells Beau, a hint of his old swaggering accent in the word.

‘How long?’

‘Good long while.’

Beau stares at him, mouth working but no sound coming out. She jerks her head to Yasha, who smiles. Jerks her head to the pools, which burble and burn away.

‘Didn’t notice.’

‘No, we know.’ Fjord leans heavy against her shoulder. ‘It’s alright.’

‘Should’ve noticed.’

‘You don’t have to be —‘ Yasha hesitates, suddenly nervous under the way Beau looks at her. Like a piece of flint waiting to spark. Like a woman who is hurting. ‘We wanted to...make sure you are safe. We didn’t...wish to intrude.’

‘Did you at least hide?’

‘Nope.’ Fjord pops the sound of the p with relish. ‘You walked right past us.’ Holds a hand up to his face, exaggerating—though not by much—how close they had been and Beau had not seen them.

‘Fuck.’

The word punches out of her along with e last of her energy. Yasha catches her as she sags, leans her fully against Fjord who wraps an arm around her shoulders.

‘He’s a cute fuckin’ kid, huh?’ she mumbles.

‘Sure is. Looks like you.’

‘I was a little monster.’ Beau knocks her head on his shoulder. Drops a hand to the side, fingers hooking onto Yasha’s bracer.

‘Naw,’ Fjord says, so so softly. ‘I reckon you were just fine.’

They sit with her as her facade breaks again, no energy to maintain it, and she cries. There’s little left in her to cry out so when she’s empty of tears, she almost crumples in on herself and bit by bit she slips from this state into unconsciousness.

‘Yasha? Little help?’ Fjord asks, holding Beau awkwardly back from the edge of the low cliff.

Yasha stands. Scoops the smaller woman into her arms. Adjusts her with Fjord’s help so her head leans peacefully on Yasha’s shoulder, Fjord’s cloak a cushion. They head back to the inn, Beau lulled by the rolling step, cradled safely in her friend’s arms.

The inn is dark, the stairways barely lit by lantern light. Yasha carries her up the stairs—laughs softly at Fjord’s low whistle.

‘You’re not tired at all? You carried her all the way across town—she’s small but she’s not exactly light!’

‘She’s fine,’ Yasha shrugs. Her muscles are warm from exertion but it isn’t something that strains or hurts. ‘Would you—the door?’

‘Huh? Oh, sure, yes.’

He cracks the bedroom door. They creep in, not wanting to wake Jester. Jester, who sleeps turned toward Beau’s bed, who looks as though she had drifted off in the middle of staring at the empty sheets.

Yasha holds Beau as Fjord pulls down the sheets; lowers her onto the mattress and helps Fjord work at the laces of muddied boots. Easing them off, Fjord takes them, holds them in his hand. Watches Yasha’s hands carefully��not from any suspicion but from a deep, worried care—as she draws the blanket up to around Beau’s shoulders.

‘Sleep well, Beau,’ Fjord says with all the reverence of a prayer.

Yasha wonders if he is aware of the faint green glow around his free hand as he rests it on Beau’s shoulder. The frown that grips her brows tight loosens a fraction. Eases.

Caduceus

Caduceus trusts Fjord and Yasha to track her down in the night.

His job is not like theirs. Their duty is to protect her, to keep her from going too far, to bring her home. His is — he’s reluctant to say harder, he has no doubt there was some careful work to bringing her home, but it is one thing to catch the wild horse and another to tame it. So he’s heard. He’s never tamed a horse himself, nor does the analogy sit well with regards to Beauregard. Except, that is, a wild horse is skittish to the reaching hand and he cannot stop thinking about a younger Beauregard, already young, who has been struck by her father. Caduceus doesn’t consider himself an educated man but there are some things he knows to the core of himself, and this is one of those things: Beauregard has been starved of those necessary things, like the withered and pitiful garden within the estate. If she is not healthy, if she does not bloom brightly and prettily as expected, it is not the plants fault but the gardeners.

That is to say, he thinks, and rolls a mouthful of floral tea over his tongue, she deserves more. Better.

Which brings him to his duty, and his eyes lift from the handsome grain work in this simple tables to the stairs where a barefooted girl, hair half-fallen from its topknot, hurries down.

‘Morning, Beau.’

She looks marginally better. Reflexes far improved from the night before. He had been tempted to check for signs of undeath, with her moving like the animated dead, skin as cold.

‘Cad,’ she grunts.

The skin beneath her eyes is puffy and dark, from crying and from a lack of sleep. He had heard Fjord and Yasha return late last night, perhaps even early into morning, so she can’t have slept for more than—three? Four hours at most.

‘You haven’t slept enough.’

She grunts. ‘Seen my boots?’

‘Yes.’ He drinks from his cup. Flares his nostrils to take in the scent as the movement stirs, hits the notes of the drop of honey he had added. After last night, he needs the boost, the sweetness.

‘Where?’

He just smiles, no intent whatsoever to say. ‘Tea?’ He has rarely seen anyone who needs a cup more than she does now; she desperately needs it, needs a moment to relax from holding herself so tense, gingerly, like she has been turned inside out and back again and she’s scared it’ll happen again.

Beau doesn’t seem to agree. Squints are him, a not unfamiliar squint, the one she gets when she’s reading books in unfamiliar script. Like she is figuring him out. Lips pressed flat, not quite a scowl.

Caduceus thinks about telling her that he isn’t a book, can’t be read like one, when she nods, frown clearing.

‘Fjord’s got ‘em. Great. Thanks.’

‘What?’

Beau salutes. Backs up the stairs.

‘How did you—‘ he begins to ask, brows crawling higher in his forehead like fat, confused pink caterpillars, but she has already disappeared, taking the steps two at a time.

He listens as the door to the room he was sharing with Fjord creaks open. A moment, and then it creaks closed again. The loose floorboard at the top of the steps squeals and Beau returns, boots in hand, and takes a seat at the table with him turned in the seat so she can pull the boots on. Wipes a rough palm over the sole of her foot, brushing off dust and dirt.

‘He polished them,’ she grunts. Shakes her head. ‘Sap.’

‘He cares for you.’

There—a small shift, like a contraption winched tight, Beau’s shoulders creaking closer together, tighter, tense.

‘He just hates mess. Seen him at the Xhorhaus? Washes his room out. Scrubs the kitchen top to bottom.’

‘Mm.’

‘You must like that.’

‘He reorganises the cupboards,’ Cad tells her, watches as the comment surprises a smile out of her.

‘Caduceus,’ she says, teases, ‘is that a complaint?’

‘Everyone has flaws. Neatness isn’t too bad of one.’

Boots on, obviously feeling a little more put together, more herself, Beau leans back in her chair with an arm slung over the back of it. Her smile is crooked, a half-summoned thing. ‘Yeah, he’s alright,’ she allows.

‘He’s marvellous.’ There—an easy shift into what he needs to talk to her about. ‘As are you.’

She rolls her eyes hard.

‘We’re all looking after you in our own ways.’

‘Found a way to help me, have you? Am I easy like the rest of them?’

‘No. I don’t think you have ever been easy.’ He watches her flinch truly this time and hums, realises his misstep. ‘That—was not meant to be an insult.’

‘’s fine, dude. Whatever. You’re not wrong.’

Caduceus’s duty is care; his duty is helping people to move on, to grieve and leave their grief, to transfer it into something that can be borne more easily. It was easier when he had no interest in the grief himself, but he loves this woman and somehow it has made him clumsy.

‘There are great works that are done,’ Caduceus says to her. ‘Art and other acts of creation, great gardens. They aren’t easy.’ Beau frowns. ‘But they are marvellous.’

Beau clicks her tongue, shakes her head. She isn’t ready to talk, or hear more of the regard he has for her, that they all have for her, so he stops.

‘Tea?’

Beau sighs. ‘Sure. Why not.’

He smiles as warmly as he can manage. ‘I have two options.’ He pulls them from his pack, smells them to make sure. Sets them before her. ‘This one,’ he shows her, puts it to one side, ‘will clear your mind. Help wake you up. And this,’ he sets it to the other side and if it is much closer to her, well, it isn’t as though he is trying to be subtle, ‘will help you go back to sleep.’

‘I don’t think—I’m not going back to sleep, dude.’

She doesn’t push the offering away. Stares down at it with tired, tired eyes.

He waits. Won’t make this decision for her. Figures, from what he can gather, she’s had enough of people trying to make decisions for a whole lifetime.

‘Would—will you make me a cup of this?’ she asks, quietly, looking a little shameful as she points to the clear-head tea. ‘I’m sorry—I know you think I should—but I can’t. Not right now.’

He hums. ‘Perhaps tonight. You’ll sleep very well after it,’ he offers. Is rewarded with a look of relief, of thanks.

‘Sounds good. Yeah.’ Then, after a moment, ‘’preciate it, man.’

He keeps to that promise. Drinks a pot of tea with her that morning that, he thinks, has a lot to do with the good decisions they make that morning. Tea helps with that. Sitting quietly with a friend helps with that. And that evening, after a very very long day, he finds her before she can offer to take first watch and sits her at the end of his bedroll and sets up his tea station right there. Pours enough of the leaves into the water to make a single cup. He takes care to prepare it the way he always does, when he has the time—it isn’t prayer, isn’t a ritual of the kind he makes to worship the Mother, but a ritual of another kind, as old and as profound in some ways. The ritual of care, of providing, of effort. The ritual of making something especially for the one person who will appreciate it, need it the most. Not the exclusion of others, but attention to one person alone.

‘Here,’ he says, words buzzing like beetles in his chest. It always feels a little foreign, a little strange, to speak. He hadn’t spoken for a long, long time before his friends had collected him from the Grove and sometimes the words are hard. The gestures—the making, the healing—are harder for people to misconstrue. He picks up the cup by the brim, sets it in her cupped palms.

Sits beside her as she sips.

‘Long day.’ Beau grimaces. The tea is bitter, but that isn’t why she grimaces. ‘Don’t worry,’ he assures. ‘Jester will forgive you.’

‘She wants me to—slow down. Relax. I can’t relax, Cad, even on a good fucking day.’

‘Hmm.’

Beau snorts. ‘Helpful.’

She drinks a little more.

The air is clean and clear within the dome, pleasant after the hours of walking in this strange place that smells so heavily of metals and gases. Caleb tells them all that it is minerals and sulphur, the waters like pools of acid from the chemicals. To Caduceus, it is as if the earth itself here is dying and decomposing, petrifying even as she bloats. It’s strange and as fascinating as it is upsetting, and from moment to moment Caduceus shifts on whether this is natural or not.

Beau sits there on his bedroll and there she stays, cup beginning to tip out of numb fingers, head lolling.

‘Oop,’ Caduceus says, reaches over to catch Beau at the small of her back, spread his hand wide there as she sags and drops into sleep like a fish tossed onto land—that is, surprising to the fish, who struggles briefly, eyes wide, before landing with the dull sound of flesh on stone. ‘Whoops.’

‘Gods, Cad, what the hell—did you brain her?’ Fjord asks, alerting Caleb too, who looks up from his place in the centre of the dome where he has chosen to read.

‘No, no, she’ll be just fine. Sleep through the night, hopefully.’

Fjord grunts. Looks fondly at Beau. Then laughs. ‘She’s already snoring. Dibs on the other side of the dome.’

Caleb looks amused, obediently shifts his things from where Fjord points. He looks tired too, Caduceus notes and briefly regrets that he had only made the one cup. And that he had done so in front of Caleb. He’ll never get the wizard to drink this brew now.

Jester

It is a long day punctuated by the strange, sudden greys that colour the flora here—flowers and vines and trees shrivelled and withered and turned to living stone, the thrum of life present but dulled to the point where Caduceus is hard put to feel it. Jester leaves him to tend to the plants and figure them out. She doesn’t know an awful lot about plants and her time is better spent, she figures, at Beau’s side.

They’re miles from the Lionett estate and everyone within it but still Beau walks like she’s expecting an attack at any moment, snaps at useless discussion, and walks too fast for any of them to keep up until Jester snags her. Holds her hand hard enough that the girl can’t shrug her off. It makes Beau more restless, Jester can see that, the way she’s straining to get ahead, to get to whatever awaits them, to figure this out and find answers finally, and Jester understands, really, she does!

‘It’s just that it’s dangerous if we can’t keep up with you, Beau, and what if you get into some kind of trouble and we’re too far to hear you, or don’t pick the same path, or just can’t get there in time?’

‘I can look after myself, Jes,’

‘Obviously, obviously,’ Jester agrees hurriedly. ‘You’re really strong and smart, Beau, we know that, but you don’t have to look out for yourself when you have all of us, and—‘ Jester hesitates, not sure Beau can take hearing about how very, very tired she looks.

‘I am feeling very tired, myself,’ Caleb says, not to Beau because the others are all pretending not to see the way Jester has more or less grappled Beau into standing still for just a second so she can talk her into making camp and staying with them. Jester shoots him a glare; she knows he can lie more convincingly than that, and they are supposed to be convincing Beau. But he must know some way of talking to her to get her attention because Jester feels the lightning thrum of tension running through Beau’s cord-tight muscles fade the smallest bit. Feels shoulders drop an inch. Hears her reluctant scoff, almost a laugh.

‘Fine. Fine.’ Beau brings her hand up finally to return the hug—grapple—and pat Jester’s back. ‘You can let me go now, I’m not gonna bolt,’ she tells Jester, who wishes very much she could see Beau’s face and what that amount of fondness would look like. Hearing it is enough—sweet like caramel, warm and featherlight like smoke around her.

Jester pulls back slowly. Affects a suspicious squint and doesn’t let go. Not just yet. ‘Promise?’ she teases.

It’s doubly sweet to see how reluctantly the smile comes, how Beau has to rearrange her whole face to accommodate it.

‘Promise.’

Jester squeezes her. Releases her, hugging hands gliding down to Beau’s, squeezing those too. She leaves a trail of healing behind her, because Beau’s dad might have said run from the things in the woods but Beau had decided not to.

Beau hooks her pinkie around Jester’s. Holds it for a moment, says again—‘Promise’—before she begins to pace the campsite, bothering Fjord and distracting Caleb who just wants to set up the dome. He sends raven-Frumpkin to busy Beau, leads her on a chase around the clearing and up to the branches of a nearly spruce—the low branches, when Caleb sees the way Jester glares at him.

‘Hey Caleb. Caleb.’

‘Ja, Beaure—Beau.’

‘Ha! Beau-Beau,’ Nott repeats. ‘Cute.’

‘Call me that again and I’ll happily help with the first part of your resurrection,’ Beau promises. Nott hisses in through her teeth; after a moment, Beau clears her throat. ‘Sorry.’

‘No, no, say how you really feel.’

‘I said I’m sorry!’

‘Alright, I think everyone could do with a minute apart. Beau—‘ Cad says, bends over her, hand on her shoulder. ‘You promised I could make you tea.’

Jester can see the way she wants to snap at him too, send him away. Sees the moment Beau gives in and lets Cad lead her to his bedroll on the edge of the dome, talk quietly with him as he brews a bitter smelling tea that makes Jester’s nose itch when she passes by later. She misses the exact moment when Beau passes out but turns when she hears her crumple, cries out when she sees Beau sprawled there and hurries back into the dome.

‘Caduceus!’

‘She’s fine,’ he tells her. Fjord nods like he’s just asked the exact same thing. ‘She’s fine, just sleeping.’

‘You knocked her out?’

A hint of nerves crawls over Caduceus’s face. ‘I—helped her sleep.’

‘Ooh, she’s going to be so mad when she wakes up,’ Jester whispers, not sure if she should be mad on Beau’s behalf or relieved.

‘Ah.’ Caduceus scratches at his hair, the point where one lock of hair is turning white. ‘Well.’

‘Don’t worry. I’ll protect you.’

‘Aw, I really appreciate that. Thank you, Jester.’

Jester pats his arm. Moves Caleb’s things—who clicks his tongue and sighs—so she can lay out hers next to Cad’s bed, taken over by the fully snoring Beau.

Curled up beside her, Jester smells the faint scent of Cad’s sleeping mat—sweat and earth and growing things like sweet grass, and the bitter tang of crushed beetles. And below it, shuffling closer, she smells what she knows now is the smell of Kamordah, though she knew it first as Beau—the tang of metal and the bite of something ever so faintly sour, even as it balances against the flowery smell of jasmine. She wonders as she drifts off whether it is something that sunk into Beau and refused to shift, or if the other girl just happened to gravitate toward soaps that smelled similar. She’ll have to ask.

Beau wakes later, when the fire has burned down to embers and the last watch—Yasha and Nott—have slunk off to patrol just beyond the treeline. Jester wakes to the sensation of gentle, careful fingers on her tail, unwrapping it from where it is snuggly curled around Beau’s ankle. Beau’s pant leg had lifted an inch or two, bunching higher around her calf, and Jester’s tail had taken advantage, seeking out the warmth of the human’s skin and double wrapping there where the cloth has moved to reveal skin.

‘Jes, geez,’ Beau mutters to herself, struggling to get free. ‘Help a girl out,’ she hisses though not loud enough to wake Jester, if she had not been already well on her way to waking. With a sigh, and a grumble, Beau tickles Jester’s tail with blunt nails, enough to make the muscles twitch and jump and slacken. Quicker than anything else, Beau slips her foot free with a quiet sound of victory.

She staggers to her feet, hand going to her head, smacks dry lips. ‘God, Caduceus, what was in that fucking tea,’ she mutters, picking her way over curled sleeping forms.

Jester eases up onto her elbows; most of her believes Beau isn’t silly enough to make a break for it—she has left everything, including her goggles. A small part of Jester that has zero sense and only concerns itself with keeping her friend right at her side where she can see her and soothe her and protect her worries. Pushes her to sit upright.

Across the dome, Jester sees Caleb rouse as Beau crosses the threshold of the hut.

‘Hmm,’ he says.

‘I think she’s going to pee,’ Jester whispers. Brings his eyes suddenly to Jester, searching in the dark. He settles on what he thinks is Jester—pretty close for being in near complete dark, the canopy thick overhead—and nods slowly.

‘I can’t leave,’ he tells her. ‘The hut will drop.’

Jester stands. Pats his shoulder as she passes to follow Beau out. She waits just beyond the boundary of the hut, seeing how Beau has only gone a short way from them, and waves a little when Beau returns, picking her careful path across the stone-and-grass clearing.

Beau’s steps falter and then pick up. When she gets closer, Jester can see a crooked, easy smile on her face and silently thanks Caduceus for knocking Beau out.

‘I’m fine,’ Beau insists when she’s close enough to be heard. ‘You—everyone doesn’t have to worry about me.’

Jester tilts her head up to return the smile, twice as sweet. ‘I’d like to see you try and stop us.’

Beau snorts.

‘Sleeping okay?’

‘Yeah. Whatever Cad gave me was a helluva knock out.’

‘Oh, you knew?’

‘Sort of. He told me it’d help,’ Beau explains, and seems mindlessly to accept the hand Jester holds out for her as they make their way back inside. ‘I didn’t think he meant it’d knock me on my ass in two seconds flat but,’ she shrugs.

‘And everything...else?’ Jester winces, hearing the obvious sidestep in the question. Beau’s eyes cut sideways to her; somehow, they still hold nothing in them but sleepy fondness.

‘You mean with my dad.’

‘Yeah.’

‘It’s—‘ Beau shrugs. Tilts her head hard to the side in an effort to crack her neck, release a little of the tension that has built up so much in her shoulders, spine.

‘Here, let me,’ Jester offers. Pats Beau down onto the bedroll once more and sits behind her, knees pressing into the soft of Beau’s hips. It’s nice with how incredibly cut Beau is that she still has that padding on her hips, the soft layer. Jester knows it’s to protect those vital organs but she also knows that things can be more than one thing at a time, so the softness can be protective and incredibly sweet all at once.

Jester moves closer, knees pressing dimples into it, thumbs brushing and then pressing into it as well. She is rewarded with a low grunt of pleasure as Beau realises what she intends, and the other girl lets her head fall forward on her neck, opening up her back for Jester to work. She rubs and massages until some of the knots at least feel looser, less incredibly tense, and finally as she reaches the top of Beau’s back she rubs her fingers soothingly over the jade tattoo where Beau has been pressing and rubbing and pinching the skin all day.

Beau hums, the sound vibrating into Jester’s knees and hand.

‘Better?’

‘Mm. Much.’

‘Good.’

Jester drags her hands down Beau’s back, rubbing gently now with none of the pressure of a massage. She leans forward to rest her forehead against Beau’s shoulder blade. Sighs.

‘Tired?’ Beau asks.

‘Yeah.’

Beau reaches back. Scritches blunt nails lightly on Jester’s scalp, around those itchy parts of her horns. ‘Go on, go back to sleep,’ she urges.

‘Are you?’ Beau is silent for a long moment. ‘Beau?’

‘Yeah. Yeah, I’ll sleep,’

‘Beau.’

‘I promise. I just—want to go over that weird ass prophecy thing again. God, he’s such a schmuck, having a fucking prophecy from a witch.’

Jester grunts unhappily. Wraps her arms around Beau from behind so she can’t reach out for her notebook. ‘In the morning, Beau.’

‘We’ll wanna head out straight away—‘

‘In the morning,’ she says again, no room for disobedience in her tone.

Beau tries anyway. ‘Just a minute—‘

‘I’m staying up for as long as you do,’ Jester tells her, changing tracks. Her accent thickens with a yawn. ‘I’m really sleepy, Beau,’ she wheedles. ‘I promise we can look at it in the morning—Cad will make us breakfast and Fjord won’t be really awake until the sun comes up, you know that. Please?’ She yawns a second time for good measure, doesn’t realise until she’s halfway through it that it’s real. She rubs her head sleepily over the sharp bone of Beau’s shoulder. Knocks her forehead against it.

The girl sighs for a long moment, all the breath pushing out of her lungs. ‘Fine. Fine.’ She can’t help but laugh when Jester nuzzles against her shoulder, giggles at Beau’s reluctant acquiescence. ‘You’re lucky you’re cute.’

She lets Jester bear her down to the ground just as they are, Jester still hugging her, and collapses with a little huff. Wriggles around until she’s comfortable, enough to make Jester release her. Beau turns on her side to face her, hand pillowed under her cheek.

‘Beau?’ Jester’s eyes trace her profile, illuminated by the faint glow of the dome.

‘Mm.’

‘Are you scared?’

Beau’s breath slows, the only sign that she had heard. Finally, she says, ‘A bit. Yeah.’ And when Jester’s cool fingers sneak under her blanket to find Beau’s, Beau holds her hand. And they sleep.

#cr tag #tagging my stories #prompt fill

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timefirewrites · 3 years

Text

COMIC SANS INTRO

Taglist (ask to be added/removed): @black-lakritz-dragon @marewriteblr @spacetimewraithwrites @emmaschoutenwrites

ID under the cut would’ve prefered to put it here, but the post is already super long, sorry

[ID: thirteen google presentation slides, all written in the font comic sans, black text on a white background.

1. Title: “Gay Space Pirates", subtitle: “thats it thats the story”

2. Title: “What.” Text:

Okay so, everyone is queer

Literally, there’s not a single cishet character in this story

I’m not sorry <3

Most of the cast are non-humans, but the ones that aren’t are super diverse

Transfem muslim gal, intersex nerd with vitiligo, nonbinary overweight dumbass, I’ve got them all

There are also some disabled and mute characters

Oh, also they’re all neurodivergent because I said so

3. Title: “Setting!”, Text:

So, humans discovered aliens are real

and joined their Intergalactic Union

(which is definitely not evil)

That happened about 300 years ago and humans are now vibing all over the galaxy

Sounds great, right?

Well, for most humans, sure, but the ones who had to stay behind on Earth because they couldn’t afford space travel don’t like it as much

The situation on Earth is kind of shitty, and some people want to leave

4. Title: “pLoT??”, Text:

Neb is one of those people

They got an amazing plan to “borrow” a spaceship and never look back

Problem: Neb didn’t account for a robot to suddenly accompany them

The plan kind of fails real bad, but in the end the two escape from Earth

And immediately get picked up by space pirates

Fortunately, they don’t get killed

Because those pirates could really use an extra pair of hands or two, for their biggest mission yet

Which is retrieving a weapon apparently powerful enough to destroy the universe before someone else does

Nobody knows what it actually looks like though

5. Title: “Neb”, Text:

Nonbinary, aro and ace (they/them)

overweight

has idiopathic hypersomnia (basically means they sleep a lot)

also chronic migraines

pretty impulsive and says what they think

has a hard time trusting others

dreamt of going to space for as long as they can remember

On the right side of this slide is a picrew image, showing a person with brown skin, dark brown eyes and black, curly hair. They’re wearing a red bandana as well as a torn yeans jacket and have multiple scars on their skin. The background is the nonbinary flag.

6. Title: “Ahdia”, Text:

Transfem, bigender and pan (she/they)

mute

mechanic of the ship and the only one with a sense for fashion

happy go lucky and just overall fun to be around

pretty laid back, but would absolutely hunt you down if you hurt one of her friends

proud holder of the single brain cell this crew has

On the right side is an image as well, it shows a woman with fairer, but still brownish skin and brown eyes wearing a black hijab and a long-sleeved light blue shirt with clouds on it. The background is the trans flag.

7. Title: “Cap”, Text:

intersex, queer (they/them)

First time they show up, they’re holding a soda and pizza

likes organization in theory

wants to appear like a badass, but is too chaotic for that

needs to wear glasses, but doesn’t bother

Captain of the crew that picks Neb up

certified mess

Again, an image of the right shows a person, this time with dark brown skin and vitiligo, dark brown eyes and long, black dread-locks. They have some silver piercings in their ears and wear a dark purple hoodie. The background is the rainbow flag with the brown stripes on top.

The next three slides feature two columns each, each with an own title.

Title: “Com”, Text:

AI of the ship

shy and nervous mess

wants to visit all kinds of planets

loves taking care of plants

panromantic and ace

uses she/her, but doesn’t really care about gender

spends most of her time watching trashy romance movies

Title: “Coal”, Text:

The robot Neb befriended

Realized they were self-aware not even a day ago and already got anxiety

easily overwhelmed by everything

Has no idea what to do with themself

they/them

someone tells them knitting is a thing and they never do anything else ever again

Title: “Laser”, Text:

genderfluid, uses he/him or she/her

weapon specialist and tired of it

suffers from chronic neurogenic pain

speaks in a very monotone voice

writes poetry, but nobody is allowed to read it

canonically wears crocs

Title: “Lifo”, Text:

gender? no thanks (uses fel/fels pronouns)

tiny, but deadly

lost an arm and half a leg and replaced them with robotic parts (same for fels spine)

usually very loud, but can be completely silent if fel wants

cook of the ship

loves collecting trinkets

Title: “Nova”, Text:

He’s absolutely enormous, huge, colossal and every other synonym for really big you can think of

looks like he can kill you, is actually a cinnamon roll

licensed medic and mom friend of the crew

I lied when I said Ahida is the only one with a brain cell, Nova knows what he’s doing too

loves painting

Title: “Mer”, Text:

Don’t tell anyone I said this, but Mer is my favorite

if the name wasn’t clear enough, his species is aquatic

he’s beauty, he’s grace, he’ll punch you in the face

killed a man and will do so again

don’t cross him, he will get his revenge and you will regret your actions

seems like he has everything under control, but really doesn’t

11. Title: “some of my favorite lines”, Text (in no particular order):

“What’s up with your display?” Their voice sounded more steady now, which was good.

“I do not understand.” Their voice on the other hand just sounded confused.

“Oh, right. You probably can’t see it. You’re currently displaying an error message. Which just reads ‘error’. Not very helpful.”

“Fuck. I didn’t deactivate it.”

“We could just go in and race to the top.”

“What? No. Why would we do that? We can’t afford to get caught, we need to make a plan, Coal.”

“You said you wanted an adventure. Plus, I do not think we could create a plan, seeing as we know next to nothing about its defence and security.”

They said that because of them? They were just rambling earlier, not really thinking about it, just talking to fill the silence.

“Okay. But if anything goes wrong, it’ll be your fault.”

“Uh, I don’t think so? Better not touch it, though.” As Lifo said that, Cap could see fel fighting against the desire to do just that. At least Com would be happy.

Chapter 13 - they did surgery on a grape Neb

“Oh. I’m the ship. Nice to meet you?”

Whatever the hell was going on, they didn’t sign up for this.

“I am fine.” Perfectly fine. Mhm.

Coal nodded, then just stood around?

"You're outnumbered now! Coal agreed to watch Love On A Foreign Planet with me. So, uh, get moving, Fishsticks."

They settled on two things they were pretty sure were edible: a soda labeled “SpacePop: the best soda in the universe” with a “multiple sunsets on Madoras” flavor and some leftover pizza. (They were pretty sure Madoras didn’t exist, they never heard of that planet before. Maybe they shouldn’t drink that soda after all.)

“I’m Laser, my gender is a burning trash can and my pronouns depend entirely on the mercy of the universe.”

12. Title: “Homegrown memes”, this slide is filled with six different memes.

A windows error message, but the title and text is just screaming. The two options are “AAA” or “AAA”. It’s labeled “Coal”.

A photo of two people in wedding clothes. They’re labeled “Laser and Lifo”, in the background is a person falling from the sky, labeled “Com”.

Spiderman (labeled “Mer”) is holding a screen labeled “dealing with a breakup like a normal person”, in the next frame that screen is being thrown away as spiderman looks at a pc being held by someone else labeled as “commiting murder”.

A person is being kicked into a lake by someone else. They’re labeled “Coal trying to figure out what to do now that they’re self-aware”. The person kicking them is labeled “the plot”.

The “is this a pigeon” meme, but the guy is labeled as “Cap”, the butterfly as “wearing a hoodie and truly horrendous shorts” and the caption now says “is this formal dress attire?”.

The last meme is a chart, with five rows and two columns.

Row 1: Regularly says fuck: Coal, Lifo

Row 2: has sworn of saying fuck, but said it at some point: Cap, Neb

Row 3: has not said fuck before, but can if so desired: Laser, Ahdia, Mer

Row 4: has not said fuck before and refuses to say it: Com, Nova

Row 5: legally cannot say fuck: also Coal

13. This slide is an image of Earth as seen from space. Above it white text reads “the End”. /end ID]

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i-dream-of-twilight-sparkle · 3 years

Text

Chapter 8: The Pink Party Pony Preparations

Pinkie Pie bounces out of the castle and immediately gets to work getting to ponies she wants to invite. Even if the ponies weren’t really expecting it. Like poor Bon Bon and Lyra, just about to kiss in their home when suddenly…

Pinkie Pie: HIIIIII

Lyra & Bon Bon: AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHH

The engaged couple fall down after being scared by Pinkie’s appearance.

Bon Bon: Pinkie! This was not the time to suddenly pop in on us!

Pinkie: Oops, sorry Bon Bon. But by the way, congratulations on getting engaged! Speaking of weddings though, I’ll be heading soon to Saddle Arabia where there will be a Royal Ball and a Wedding. I know you also have to think about planning on having a wedding soon, but in case you feel like you can go to one more wedding before you have your own in Ponyville, eventually.

The two ponder for a moment. Lyra just shrugs.

Lyra: Sure why not, we’re actually in no rush as we haven’t decided a date yet

Bon Bon: I guess we can, Pinkie. But next time you plan on popping in on us, can you knock on our door beforehand instead?

Pinkie: I’ll keep that in mind, again apologies for the sudden entrance. But, I’ll see you lovebirds later. Seeya!

Pinkie waves and closes off the portal. As the couple becomes alone once again, hopefully with no more interruptions they give each other half-lidded eyes.

Bon Bon: Now where were we?~

Pinkie realizes she probably should be using the portals just outside the door so she doesn’t get yelled at like she just did. Next she puts another portal up close to the door of Cranky Doodle Donkey and his wife Matilda. She bounces out of the portal and knocks. Matilda is there to answer the door.

Pinkie: Hiya Matilda!

Matilda: Pinkie Pie! How nice to see you again, what brings you here?

Pinkie: I have something to invite you and Cranky to! Is he home?

Matilda: Yep, he’s just reading the newspaper over here.

Matilda looks into the house and starts calling for her husband

Matilda: Doodle! Pinkie Pie’s here, mind coming over even if only for a short bit to say hi?

Cranky: Oh, sorry Matilda and Pinkie. I was just pretty engrossed with the news, and hearing about the big battle ended not too long ago, not to mention Twilight’s going to be leader of all Equestria in about a year. It feels like just yesterday she was just a librarian in our quaint little town…

Pinkie: Yeah, things have been pretty crazy isn’t it? But looks like we have some time for some relaxation and fun. How would you two like to go with me and my other friends, including Twilight. To Saddle Arabia for a Royal Ball and a wedding for two of Twilight’s friends that live there.

Matilda: Hm, going to a wedding long after our own might be nice.

Cranky: Wait, this wedding isn’t for Lyra and Bon Bon? I thought they were the next ones getting hitched.

Pinkie: Well this is entirely different area of the world, but yeah looks like they beat them to the punch.

Cranky: How are we even going to get there, I’m looking at the map and Saddle Arabia is pretty darn far.

Pinkie: Oh don’t you worry about that. Twilight gave me portal gum. When it’s time you’ll only have to go through them, and when we need to go home, get another!

Matilda: Very convenient!

Cranky: Well if the Princess is making it that easy, she must really want the ones they invite there. Guess it could be interesting. We’ll see if we can go, Pinkie. Thanks for inviting us.

Pinkie: No problem! Hope to see you there!

Pinkie bounces out of the donkey couple’s house before stopping and pondering who to try to get to next.

Pinkie: Ooooo! I can’t forget Maud’s in ponyville! I’ll try to find her!

Pinkie first tries the underground cavern that Maud chose as her home in town. But she sees no sign of her.

Pinkie: Huh, wonder where she went? Maybe she went to visit Starlight in her school office?

Pinkie uses another gum portal to peek into the Principal’s office. But no one is there either.

Pinkie: Darn it! Where could she be?!

Pinkie suddenly starts using many of the gum packs all over Ponyville, if she happens to teleport near another pony. She asks if they’ve seen Maud but usually Pinkie’s sudden appearance just spooks them away before they answer. Eventually it gets to a point where Pinkie… runs out of gum to use.

Pinkie: Oh no! I used all my gum, I sure hope Twilight isn’t going on her invitations right now…

((Story continues after the break))

Pinkie runs back to the inside of Twilight’s castle, and to her luck Twilight is still there. She decided to get some royal paperwork done before heading off to get her invitees.

Pinkie: Hey Twilight!

Twilight: Pinkie? What you doing here back so soon? Did you already get your invitees or something?.

Pinkie: I have a few already… but I kinndddddaaaaaaaaaa used up my entire gum pack looking for my sister…

Twilight: *facehoofs* Pinkie, be a little more efficient with your portal use next time. I can give you another pack, but please think a little more before deciding to try using so many on finding one pony…

Pinkie: Sorry Twilight… It’s just I know Maud is SOMEWHERE near Ponyville as she probably would of told me if she was heading out of town. But she’s not in the usual spots I usually find her.

Twilight: If it’s any help, I know where Maud is. She’s with Mud Briar seeing Treelight again at our student’s treehouse.

Pinkie: Ooooooooooooooh, thanks Twilight! I’ll head there right away!

Twilight: Seeya, Pinkie!

With Pinkie directed to the location of her sister, she portals close to the treehouse that was made after the Student Six had. And just as Twilight said, Maud was standing next to her special somepony Mud Briar in front of the spirit of the Tree of Harmony. A sparkly version of Twilight that guided the Student Six, even if in a rather creepy manner. Though not on purpose, since the spirit was of course accustomed to being a tree rather then a talking being. Twilight’s been teaching the tree more normal behavior to make her less unsettling and by now, while she still speaks generally monotone, her body language is more normal. Pinkie meanwhile, bounces toward the two ponies and the spirit.

Pinkie: Hiiiiiii Maud, Mud, and Treelight!

Maud Pie: Hi Pinkie. Did you come to see Treelight too? She’s pretty fascinating. pretty neat that she describes both being crystal…

Mud Briar: But also actually still a tree!

Maud & Mud: At the same time

Pinkie: Huh, that does sound like something that’d interest the both of you. Though come to think of it, I think only Twilight of my friends have spoken with the spirit. Maybe I should talk with it a little bit. Hi there, Treelight!

The spirit looks over to Pinkie and smiles.

Treelight: Hello bearer of the Element of Laughter, your sister and her mate have been very friendly And they’re both also pretty funny.

Pinkie: Wait, can trees like you even understand humor? And even laugh?

Treelight: Of course, laughter is your element. It’s therefore, part of me. Allow me to show.

Treelight proceeds to laugh, which at first sounds just like whenever Twilight was laughing, but then it starts getting higher pitched. And suddenly the spirit shifts into a new form, purple coat becoming pink, horns and wings disappear, the dark blue hair with highlights becomes poofy and a darker pink color, eyes turning blue, it’s now a sparkly Pinkie Pie.

Maud: Whoa, that’s cool. Looks like whenever it does something that reflects one of the elements of harmony, it switches form to the other elements. Even the voice changes.

Pinkie: That IS pretty cool! Quick, say something that’s honest.

Treekie: Ok then.. I am…

The sparkly pinkie turns orange, the poofy pink mane turns blond, and the spirit’s eyes turn green

Appletree: …ah tree!

Pinkie Pie claps her hooves

Pinkie: Now try listening to me in loyalty by following something I want you to try, jump up in the air for me!

The sparkly Applejack spirit jumps up listening to Pinkie, turning sky blue, growing wings, and mane and tail going from blonde to a full rainbow range of colors, and now a sparkly Rainbow Dash hovering in the air and flapping wings

Treebow: Like this?

Pinkie Pie: Sweet! Now say something kind about anypony here

Treebow: Maud, you are…

The sparkly Rainbow turns yellow, the rainbow mane & tail turns pink and grows exponentially longer

Fluttertree: a nice pony!

Pinkie: Neat! But now who do we make a spirit do a generous act?

Fluttertree: Allow me…

The Spirit floats back down to the ground, wings disappear. Yellow coat becomes white while the long pink mane & tail shrink back a little but into fancy purple curls and a horn grows.

Raritree: …to show you,

The sparkly Rarity makes a white transparent tentacle comes from the side of her body and grabs some apples that were growing nearby and drops them to the ground for the 3 ponies.

Pinkie: Wow! Though how do you usually go to Twilight’s form then?

Raritree: Oh I can do that, at literally any point…

The spirit’s horn & coat becomes purple, big wings grow, the fancy purple mane & tail become the more simpler mane & tail Twilight normally has.

Treelight: There’s kind of a reason I’m in the form of the bearer of Magic most often, as it’s sort of my default form as a spirit.

Maud: Very interesting

Pinkie: Indeed! Thanks for the demonstration! But now I need to speak with my sister if that’s ok.

Treelight: No problem.

Pinkie: Maud, I’m going to Saddle Arabia with my friends to attend a Royal Ball as well as a wedding pretty soon. Would you like to come with?

Maud: Sure, Pinkie. I can bring Mud Briar too, right?

Pinkie: Of course! You two can have a nice night together there. But now I’m going to head to the Rock Farm to get the rest of our sisters and our parents!

Maud: Bye Pinkie

Pinkie opens another gum portal and she’s now at the Rock Farm where she spent a good part of her childhood before finding happier pastures in Ponyville. She finds both of her sisters who still live here mining outside.

Pinkie: Hi Limestone & Marble! How’s it been?

Limestone: What do you think it’s been? Just more work mining rocks!

Pinkie: Heh heh… well. If I can get our parents out here, I actually have something that could get you girls out for a nice break!

Limestone: That could be nice… let me call them out first. Ma! Pa! Pinkie’s here, and wants to ask us something

Pinkie’s parents walk on out to greet their visiting daughter.

Cloudy Quartz: Pinkamena! What a nice little surprise to see you back here

Igneous Rock: Limestone mentioned you came here to ask us something. What is it?

Pinkie: I came here to invite you all to Saddle Arabia! There will be a Royal ball and many of my own friend’s families and friends will be there too and we can just enjoy ourselves with entertainment. Oh, Maud will also be there, so if you miss her and would like to see her again. Would be a good opportunity for you all to do so!

Cloudy Quartz: I guess every once in a while we should break the monotony of our mining. What say you Igneous, dear.

Igneous: Sure, why not.

Marble: Mmhmm *Marble nods a yes indicating she’d like to go*

Limestone: I guess if you’re all going, I might as well, better then rock mining alone if I were to say no.

Pinkie: Great! I’ll come back to pick you up through a portal when it’s time. I’ll see you all later!

Pinkie portals back to Ponyville and ponders who to go see next.

Pinkie: Hm… maybe I should bring along Prince Rutherford. Besides… I’m not sure I want to have a yak like him find out I didn’t invite him to a large party like this next time I see him. Probably good for Yakyakistan to be there for diplomatic reasons as well.

Pinkie once again does another portal this time to the cold tundra of Yakyakistan. The yaks were at first a pretty dangerous bunch that smash everything the moment things are even a hair out of place. But as things opened up for relations betweens Yaks and Ponies, including having a representative at the School of Friendship in Yona. The Yaks have generally learned more to forgive if there are tiny mistakes, though certainly still never a good idea to anger a Yak in any fashion.

Pinkie enters the largest hut in the capital village to find Rutherford drinking with his royal ensemble.

Pinkie: Hi Ruthy!

Prince Rutherford: Well if it isn’t Pink Pony! Come to visit our great land once again, eh?

Pinkie: It is a great land, your majesty. Buuuuut I actually came here to ask if you’d be interested in going to Saddle Arabia with me and my friends. A Royal Ball is taking place, probably a good idea for you to be there for diplomatic reasons between the nations too I imagine

Rutherford: Hmm… would like to go. But Saddle Arabia, very hot. Exact opposite of Yakyakistan where fur makes cold bearable.

Pinkie: Well I’m sure as long as you’re in the palace they’ll have some form of air conditioning. Just try not to go to the desert perhaps.

Rutherford: Good point, pink pony. We’ll see if conditions are fine, but if we end up profusely sweating at any point. We might have some trouble…

Pinkie: Don’t worry if at any point it starts getting too hot for you yaks we can just make a gum portal to get you back to Yakyakistan. Also, while I’m not totally sure, there’s a chance Yona could be there. You could see how she’s been doing lately.

Rutherford: In that case, suppose us Yaks can go. And Yona might show? Excellent, hope she is well.

Pinkie: I’ll come back when it’s time! See you all then!

Pinkie Pie bounces out of the hut and goes back to Ponyville through the portal she left. She thinks once more of where to go, and realizes she hasn’t even gotten an entertainer yet, unless she wants to count if Maud did stand-up but she never asked if Maud wanted to do that, and assumes it won’t happen anyhow. Pinkie said she’d try to get Cheese Sandwich to Twilight earlier, so looks like it was time to return to his laugh factory. Even though Cheese started traveling again, he still stops by the factory to check on Sans Smirk. Sans has also livened up the factory with a little more color to make it look less dreary. Even when Pinkie sees the same security guards that were at first tough on her until they realized she had an invitation has gotten much softer.

Security Guard #1: Good day there, Pinkie

Security Guard #2: You want to see Cheese Sandwich? He is with Sans in the factory.

Pinkie: Huh? You two were tougher guards last time I was here. I don’t even have a technical invitation here.

Security Guard #1: Well, since that day Cheese Sandwich has kinda authorized a sort of permanent invitation for you that Sans Smirk agreed to let you have specifically. He doesn’t give that to many ponies, but you get special permission.

Security Guard #2: And besides, we’ve loosened up ourselves as well.

Pinkie: I guess, thank you then!

Pinkie bounces toward the factory and eventually reaches the office. It’s now Sans Smirk’s since Cheese stepped down as president of the factory but Pinkie still finds Cheese there meeting up with Sans.

Pinkie: Hi Cheese & Sans!

Cheese Sandwich turns around and is immediately excited to see Pinkie’s here.

Cheese Sandwich: Pinkie! I’m so happy to see you again! Say did you ever find out your life’s purpose you mentioned in your last visit?

Pinkie: I just found my purpose to be similar to yours: To spread the joy and laughter wherever I am. I can’t travel as much as you can, as I have friends in Ponyville. But I think what I’ve been doing already already does a lot of my purpose.

Cheese: Ah I see, though uh I do have a bit of an update on my situation. While I don’t live at the factory any more. I have been thinking of finding somewhere to call my new home. And I’ve been thinking of maybe making that home in Ponyville. Where… we could see each other everyday.

Pinkie raises one eyebrow with a skeptic face, which worries Cheese a little bit of what she’s about to say

Pinkie: Could Ponyville really handle two super duper party ponies living there on at least a semi-permanent basis?

Cheese: Uh… I hope so?

Pinkie Pie just grins and laughs

Pinkie: Of course it can! It’d be great to have you around more often!

Cheese: Oh *phew*

Pinkie: Though before you get set on moving, I actually came here to invite you, as well as give a place you can have another show at!

Cheese: Oh really? What super fun event are you inviting me to?

Pinkie: Saddle Arabia’s hosting a royal ball, and there’s also a wedding between two of Twilight’s friends who live in Saddle Arabia. The Royal family is also looking for entertainers, and you were the first name that came up for me in terms of that!

Cheese: Oh sure! I’ll definitely go! Hey Sans, would you like to go Saddle Arabia with me and Pinkie later?

Sans: Sure thing, sire!

Pinkie: Great! I’ll be so excited for your show! I think you may be my last invitee, so thank you Cheese! I’ll be heading home.

Cheese: Wait! Pinkie, I have something important to tell you.

Cheese Sandwich blushes

Cheese: There’s another reason I decided that I wanted to get a home in ponyville, there’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you for a long time but I didn’t know yet if it was the right time. Pinkie Pie… I lo-

Pinkie: OH SNAP! I ALMOST FORGOT THE CAKE FAMILY! AHHHHHHH

Pinkie freaks out and immediately makes a portal to Sugarcube Corner

Pinkie: Sorry to cut you off short on what you were saying but I gotta get them on board. I’ll see you at the ball and you can finish there! Byyyyyeeeeeeeee!

Pinkie pie bounces out and the portal closes.

Cheese: Well dang… guess I’ll have to tell her at the Ball instead.

Cheese ponders for a moment

Cheese: Actually, that might work out for the better anyway. I might have a more… super duper party pony way of telling her in mind…

Cheese muses to himself while thinking about his plan

Pinkie is back in Ponyville and immediately rushes to Sugarcube Corner. Mr. and Mrs. Cake ae just attending to their little foals Pumpkin and Pound Cake.

Pinkie: Hi Mr. & Mrs. Cake!

Pinkie looks down on the floor towards the two foals. And of course I can’t forget the two littlest cakes in the family.

The babies giggle and cheer that their favorite babysitter is here.

Mrs. Cake: It’s good to see you, Pinkie!

Mr. Cake: Do you need anything from us Pinkie? Or just stopping by and heading to your room upstairs?

Pinkie: Actually, I came here because you’re the last ones I want to invite you all to a Royal Ball in Saddle Arabia I’m going to! My family back in the Rock Farm as well as many of my friends with their own ensemble of family and friends of their own are going so thought I’d offer!

Mrs. Cake: Oh sure, that sounds like a great time. Though uh, we have a favor to ask of you, Pinkie.

Pinkie: Oh? What’s that?

Mr. Cake: We need to go out to the markets to buy more supplies. We need both more supplies for baking, and we also need a restock on just about everything for our little twins here. From food, diaper, and maybe even a few new toys for them to play with.

Mrs. Cake: But of course, I imagine you know what that means

Pinkie: Ah, you want me to babysit while you’re shopping! I can do that, certainly!

Mrs. Cake: Should only be for about an hour or two, but thank you Pinkie.

Mr. and Mrs. Cake start heading out, they wave back at Pinkie and the Cake Twins before heading off. Leaving Pinkie to entertain the babies for a little bit.

Pinkie: Are you two ready for play time?!

The babies cheer once more and can’t wait to have more fun with Pinkie. Pinkie is just satisfied to have her invitees done and now have an hour or two of babysitting before waiting for when the go ahead for the Royal Ball is done.

NEXT UP: Chapter 9: The Sands Of Time & Love

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